This is Our Life
by PerrythePlatypusGirl
Summary: CGI Modern High School AU. When MK transfers to a new school after her mother dies, she thinks she is the only one with problems. But then she runs into a certain group of friends and is quickly proven wrong. Multi-crossover. Epic, Frozen, Tangled, Brave, Hotel Transylvania, the Lorax, ROTG, HTTYD, and much more. Rated for mild language.
1. Episode 1: The New Girl (and her crush)

**A/N: A quick note before I start: First off, hello, welcome to my take of the CGI high school AU. XD I hope you enjoy. **

**Second note: This story will be split into "episodes," much like a TV series; each cahpet is one episode, with its own sonflict, all connecting into one overarching storyline. Be warned: individual episodes may a be a little long. XD So, without further ado, here's my story: This is Our Life. (Thank you to noodlekuki on deviantART for the name.)**

* * *

Episode 1: The New Girl (and her crush)

The sun shined brightly over the calm forest meadow, reflecting off the dew drops on the trees and grass. Birds began to chirp, signaling the beginning of a brand new day. An old, two-story house sat in the middle of a clearing, looking quite peaceful until-

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!"

Mary Katherine's shrill cry broke the peaceful silence. Stomping down the stairs with her backpack dangling loosely from her shoulders, the girl cried out for her father once more. "Daaaaaad! Where are you? We're going to be late!"

When she received no answer, Mary Katherine (or MK, as she preferred to be called) sighed in frustration. Today was her first day, and now she was going to be late! MK called for her father again while checking different rooms around the house.

Not in the bedroom. Not in the bathroom. Not in the living room. MK stomped in agitation to check the kitchen, when suddenly she spotted her dad in his study. He was leaning hunched over his desk, clearly focusing on something.

"Dad!" MK snapped. "What are you doing?!"

Snapping out of his concentration, Professor Bomba looked up at his daughter with a surprised smile. "Oh! Good morning, Mary Kath-er, MK. What's up?"

MK gaped at him. "What's up?! Dad, let's go, I'm going to be late!"

Bomba blinked. "Late for what...?"

At this point, MK was ready to rip her hair out. "Late for _school,_ dad! Did you forget it's my first day?!"

Her father blinked again, then jumped up in shock. "School!" He shouted in a panic. "I'm so sorry, I completely forgot!" Bomba glanced at the work on his desk, as if sad to leave it, then walked distractedly toward MK. "Come on, let's get to the car! I'm sorry, honey, I've just been so distracted..."

MK's dad continued apologizing until they got to the car. MK just rolled her eyes and plopped herself down in the front seat. It didn't matter now. There was no way she would make it to school on time. Her father drove quickly and distractedly, almost hitting another car, but eventually she was able to make it to her high school in one peice.

MK did not answer her father's goodbye. She simply slammed the door of the car and walked up to the door of the school. As her dad drove off, MK stared up at the school in awe. It was an old-fashioned brick building, complete with four-paned windows and a school bell that looked like it had been sitting there for centuries.

MK sighed, remembering how technological her old school had seemed compared to this one. But she was the new girl here, so she may as well make a good impression. Hands shaking a little, she opened the large doors and stepped inside.

The halls were quiet and empty, since everyone was already in class. Nonetheless, MK was relieved to see that the inside of the school was more modern-looking than the outside. Pulling out the schedule that she had received in the mail last week, MK was eventually able to find her first class: English.

It was quiet when she walked in. Some of the students looked up at her curiously, and MK did the best she could to ignore them as she walked over to the teacher.

"Mr. Fredrickson?"

The teacher looked up at her from his desk. He was a short, grumpy-looking old man with a bow tie and a large pair of glasses. MK fidgeted nervously.

"Um, I'm Mary Katherine, the new girl..." She stammered.

Mr. Fredrickson grunted a little and pulled out his attendance sheet. "You're late," he told her.

"Yes, well..." MK paused and bit her lip. "We had...car trouble."

Mr. Fredrickson nodded a little and pointed to an empty desk. "There's a spot right over there, just pull out your book and start reading at act one."

MK nodded and hurriedly walked over to her seat, trying to ignore the stares that she got from her classmates. As she walked she heard Mr. Fredrickson cough a little and complain about his back. She smirked as she sat down "You've gotta retire, old man," she murmured under her breath.

A girl next to her giggled. "That's what we keep telling him," she whispered. "But he never listens."

MK was hoping that the rest of the day would pass by in a breeze, but unfortunately, it did not go as well as she had planned. She was late to both of her next two classes because she got lost, and now she was sure her teachers already hated her. To make matters worse she had tried to open another student's locker, thinking that it was hers, only to be confronted by the owner of the locker who thought she was trying to "jack" it.

As if that wasn't bad enough, she was knocked into a puddle on her way to fourth period. She had been trying to take a shortcut through one of the outside hallways, but another girl who apparently had the same idea ran into her and sent her sprawling backwards into a puddle of rainwater.

"I'm so sorry!" The girl cried. She quickly ran over and helped her up. "Are you ok?"

MK inspected the girl's face. She was a little shorter than her, with a round freckled face, blue eyes and auburn hair styled in two pigtail braids. She seemed innocent enough. She probably had not done it on purpose. "It's ok," MK replied. "I'm fine."

"Oh but you're all wet!" The other girl pointed out. "Do you need help? I can help you find-"

"No no, don't worry," MK interrupted her. "I have a change of clothes, I'll be fine." MK walked past the girl and into the bathroom, but not before hearing her apologize loudly a few more times.

In truth, MK only had a spare hoodie on her, so she was forced to go and borrow some gym clothes to wear. Embarrassed, she cursed her own clumsiness and she trudged, late again, into her next class.

The teacher, a pretty, slender young African-American woman, smiled up at MK as she walked in. "Hi," she greeted. "Are you Mary Katherine?"

MK nodded. "Yes, but I prefer MK if you don't mind."

The teacher smiled again and shook her hand. "Nice to meet you, MK. I'm Ms. Forrest, but you can call me Ms. Tara if you want. And don't worry about being late. I won't count it-I know how tough the first day can be."

MK smiled at her. Finally, a nice teacher to ease things up a little. "Thank you," she said.

Ms. Tara nodded. "No problem. Now, why don't you have a seat, grab some drawing paper and start sketching-we're just doing some doodles to see where everyone's skill level is."

"Ok."

Spotting a seat next to a girl with wavy orange hair, MK sat down and stared at her paper, wondering what to draw. She had expected Art class to be easy and relaxing, but she was already stumped. MK glanced over at the girl next to her, a little nervous, and cleared her throat. "Umm...hi."

The girl looked up and smiled. "Hi."

"What are you drawing?"

The other girl looked down at her artwork and shrugged. "Just my house. I didn't know what else to draw."

MK giggled. "Yeah, tell me about it. I have no idea what to draw for mine..."

"Just draw something you love," the girl replied. "Ms. Tara always talks about _feeling_ in your art."

MK frowned and stared at her paper again. She did have someone that she loved, but she had not thought of her ever since she had moved in with her father...

The other girl was still looking at her. "Hey..." She said. "I'm Audrey, by the way."

"Oh, uh...MK." They shook hands briefly and MK went back to the paper. Her mother popped into her head again and MK choked back the tears. It had been almost a month since she had lost her mother, and she still had not been able to get over it. Taking a deep breath, MK shakily picked up her pencil and began sketching her mom's profile. She could remember every detail: the short dark hair, the green eyes, the soft smile...MK smiled to herself. Oh, if only her mother was still around...

MK was lost in her drawing for a moment before realizing that Audrey was watching over her shoulder. Realizing that she had been caught, Audrey sat up and smiled sheepishly.

"She's beautiful," said Audrey. "Who is she?"

MK hesitated for a moment. "She's...my mom. She, uh..." MK bit her lip before continuing. "She...died this summer..."

"Oh...I'm really sorry."

MK shrugged and wiped her eyes. Looking to change the subject, she noticed that Audrey had pushed her house drawing aside and was working on a picture of a boy.

"Who are you drawing?" MK asked.

Audrey's eyes widened as she covered up the second drawing. "Nobody. It's...it's just...someone..."

MK smirked. "Your boyfriend?" She teased.

Audrey blushed but still smiled. "No, not really. He's just a friend that I sort of...you know."

"Oooh, I see."

MK and Audrey were absorbed in their art for the rest of the class, and they did not talk much. Audrey left pretty quickly after class, which wasn't so good for MK, because she did not have anywhere to go for lunch.

_Eh, it's no big deal,_MK thought to herself. _I guess I'll just be eating alone..._

Just as MK walked into the cafeteria, she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around to see the girl who had knocked her into the puddle earlier.

"Oh," MK said. "It's you again."

The girl gave her an apologetic smile. "Hi there...I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I swear I didn't mean it-" the girl cut herself off when she noticed MK's borrowed gym clothes, and her eyes widened. "Eek! Did I do that? Is that because of me?"

"No, don't worry about it, it's-"

"Oh I'm sorry, I'm such a clutz! I can't seem to go anywhere without knocking someone over. Maybe Rapunzel has something better for you to wear, just come with me...!" She grabbed MK's hand and started to drag her toward a table in the center of the cafeteria.

Instinctively, MK pulled her hand back. "No really, I'm fine," she insisted. "And don't worry about knocking me over, it's...it's ok, I won't hold it against you."

The girl looked surprised for a moment before smiling with relief. "Oh, that's good..." She held out a hand and smiled. "By the way, I'm Anna."

MK shook her hand and introduced herself.

"MK, are you new?" Anna asked curiously. "You looked a little lost earlier."

"Oh, um...yeah. I'm afraid I'm not having such a great first day..."

Anna's eyebrows shot upward. "Oh! Well, don't worry! You can come sit with my friends and me!"

"What? Oh, but I can't-I mean, I haven't even gotten my lunch yet..."

Anna grinned. "Me neither! Come on, I'll show you where to get food." Anna motioned for MK to follow her and led her to the lunch line. "Word of advice," Anna told her. "Don't get the beef. I swear to God, it's _alive._"

MK smiled. While Anna's over-the-top energy level was a little bit annoying, there was something about her that seemed to draw you in. And besides, MK needed some friends. She didn't want to be the New Girl and the Loner at the same time...

"Hey look, it's Kristoff!" Anna squealed suddenly. She stood on her tiptoes and waved across the crowed room. "HI KRISTOFF!"

On the other side of the cafeteria, MK spotted a large boy with floppy blond hair wave shyly back at Anna. Anna turned to MK with a wide grin on her face. "My boyfriend," she explained. "He's a little shy."

Hopefully the rest of Anna's friends would not be as crazy energetic.

The two girls got their food and headed over to a table where three other girls were sitting. Anna waved to her friends and introduced them.

"Guys, this is MK. She's new," said Anna. "MK, these are my friends, Rapunzel, Mavis, and Merida." As Anna pointed to each of her friends, MK inspected each one.

Rapunzel was the tallest and oldest of the bunch. She had short brown hair, green eyes and a warm, welcoming smile. She looked a lot like Anna, but at the same time she had, thankfully, a calmer and more mature demeanor about her.

Mavis' hair was short and jet black, and it seemed to sort of frame her face more than Rapunzel's did. She seemed like a quiet girl and looked a lot like a stereotypical goth, with her dark clothes and lipstick, making her large blue eyes stand out even more. Mavis was the youngest of the group.

Merida seemed to stick out like a sore thumb. Her hair was long, red, and big as a bush. Her smile had more of a devious and sassy edge to it, and she did not look like someone you wanted to mess with. She was dressed in a casual tomboy zip-up hoodie, jeans and sneakers, and seemed generally tougher then the rest of the girls in the group.

MK was a little scared she might not fit in with this group, but contrary to what she had thought, they welcomed her with open arms.

"Hi!" Rapunzel greeted sweetly. "It's nice to meet you!"

"Thanks," MK replied, trying to sound friendly. She sat down with Anna and began picking at her lunch.

"So, MK," Rapunzel prodded. "What grade are you in?"

"I'm a junior...I just transferred here from California because..." She paused, thinking suddenly of her mother and choking back the emotions. "Well, for personal reasons..."

The girls nodded understandingly, and Rapunzel continued. "So, how are you liking our school so far? Pretty sweet, huh?"

Before MK could answer, Merida's voice piped up. "Why are ye wearing gym clothes?"

"Merida!" Rapunzel scolded. "That's rude."

Anna looked down and pouted. "Don't blame her, you guys. I knocked her into a puddle..."

At this, all the other girls laughed. "Seriously, Anna? You don't spare anyone, do you?" Anna continued pouting.

"Well, it's a good thing ye found us, MK," Merida cut in with her thick Scottish accent. "We're the cool kids 'round here-"

"Relatively speaking, of course," Rapunzel interrupted. "Everyone is cool around here."

"Yer too nice, Rapunzel. Anyway, like I was sayin', we're the cool kids, so we'll be givin' ya all the tips ye need to survive. Tip number one:" she held up a tanned finger. "Don't ever get the beef fer lunch."

Anna made some fake barfing noises at the mention of "the beef," and MK nodded.

"Tip number two," Merida continued. "Stay _far away_ from Prince Sideburns."

A collective groan arose from the table.

"Way to bring up a sore subject, Merida," Anna complained.

"What? The lass needed to know!"

MK was confused. "Who's Prince Sideburns?" she asked.

"She's talking about Hans," Anna replied with a roll of her eyes.

"_Prince_ Hans, Anna," Rapunzel interjected, adding a fake swoon for emphasis. "You can't forget his title."

Merida scoffed. "Oh, aye. Prince of Douchebags."

MK turned to Anna. "Wow. That bad?"

"He's the _worst_," Anna responded. "He acts all nice and charming at first, but trust me, he is terrible." The girl shook her head and went back to her food. "I dated him for a while-don't know what on earth I was thinking. Kristoff is so much better than him."

"Eh, all boys are losers anyway." Merida declared.

"Not Kristoff," Anna retorted.

"Or Eugene," Rapunzel added.

"Do ye even see Eugene anymore, Rapunzel?"

"Of course I do! I go see him at his college every weekend!"

MK perked up. "You're dating a college guy?" She asked. "Isn't that...kinda...weird?"

Rapunzel stared back at her for a second. MK started to worry that she had offended her, but Rapunzel shrugged it off.

"No," the brunette replied. "And he's only a year older than me, so it's no big deal."

"And he goes to the same school as my sister," Anna piped up. "So if he does do anything weird, she'll tell us."

"Anna, stop," Rapunzel responded quickly. She was smiling, but her tone had kind of an edge to it. "You know Eugene would never do anything to hurt me."

MK raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

Rapunzel didn't look up. "I just know."

"It's ok, Rapunzel. I mean, Kristoff is a year older than me, too," said Anna, changing the subject. She turned to MK. "I have to introduce you to Kristoff," she said. "He's super nice and really sweet, you're gonna like him a lot."

"Oy, here we go again," Merida interrupted. "Anna, ye know Kristoff doesn't like bein' forcibly introduced to yer mates."

Anna frowned. "What do you mean 'forcibly introduced'?"

"I can attest to that," Mavis said suddenly, speaking for the first time. She turned to MK as if she was about to share some irresistible gossip. "Last year, when I came to this school, Anna introduced _me_ to Kristoff. And he's kind of a quiet and antisocial guy, so he doesn't really like talking to a lot of people. And then Anna goes off to the bathroom and just leaves us there together-totally awkward!-and then she comes back two minutes later asking us if we had become best friends yet."

"I did not!" Anna whined as MK and the others laughed. "Mavis, you're exaggerating!"

"I'm really not."

"You are!"

"She's not exaggeratin'," Merida whispered to MK, causing Anna to start complaining again.

MK laughed. These girls weren't so bad. She could get used to hanging out with them. At the same time, however, she felt a little disconnected from them. After only a few minutes, they were already making inside jokes amongst themselves and MK felt a little left out.

_It's probably because I just met them,_ MK thought. _It'll get better later, right?_

The lunch period soon came to an end, and the girls had to say goodbye. MK's classroom was on the way to Anna's, so she walked her over there.

"Are you going to come sit with us tomorrow?" Anna asked eagerly.

MK shrugged. "Sure, probably. You guys are pretty fun. And well, I don't really have anywhere else to go."

Anna beamed. "Awesome! I'll see you tomorrow!" She left MK in front of her classroom waved as she walked away. Unfortunately, she wasn't looking where she was going and bumped right into a freshman, sending her sprawling onto the floor.

"Eek! I'm so sorry!" Anna cried.

MK chuckled and walked into the classroom. Luckily, she was not late for this one, and she was able to find an empty seat as the other students filed into the classroom. While she waited for class to start, MK pulled out her schedule and looked it over.

Biology. Ugh. This had never been her favorite subject. MK rolled her eyes an hoped fervently that she would not end next to someone immature-the last thing she needed was to sit next to a boy who kept flipping to the Human Reproduction section of the textbook and making obnoxious jokes...

"Hey."

MK flinched a little in her seat, not realizing that a boy had sat down next to her. As she scrambled to put her schedule away, she took a glance at her neighbor and did a double take. Hold the phone. This guy was _cute._

"H-hi..." MK replied, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Maybe this first day was not so bad after all. She had already been able to find a group of friends, and now she was developing a crush.

"Are you new?" The boy asked her with a smile. "I haven't seen you here before."

"Um, yeah, I just transferred here."  
She fidgeted a little.

The boy smiled even wider and held out a hand. "Well, it's nice to meet you," he said. "I'm Hans."

MK's eyes widened. So _this_ was Hans. "Oh, uh..." She stammered, "I'm MK." the girl politely shook Hans' gloved hand and quickly pulled back. If this guy was really as bad as the girls said, then she should probably stay away.

"MK?" Hans continued. "That's an interesting name, what does it stand for?"

MK shifted uncomfortably in her seat and didn't make eye contact with him. "Mary Katherine," she replied quickly. "But if it's all the same to you, I prefer MK." She stopped, wondering if she had seemed rude, but Hans didn't seem to notice.

"Ok," he said simply. "MK it is, then."

MK smiled in spite of herself.

At that moment the bell rang and the two of them turned their attention up front. The teacher walked up to the board, and MK was sure she was just about the _brightest_ woman she had ever seen. Short and pretty, she had brown hair with green, purple and blue highlights, and she wore shades of bright green and blue on her shirt an skirt. Her eye color was a little hard to tell, but MK swore they were purple. Glancing at her schedule again, MK looked up the name of her teacher.

Toothiana. Even her name was weird.

Ms. Toothiana waited until everyone was looking at her, then she smiled widely. "Welcome back, everyone," she chimed. "Before we start today, I'd like us all to welcome a new student to our class." The woman looked directly at a bewildered MK and gestured to her. "Would you stand up and introduce yourself, please?"

MK glanced at Hans, as if for reassurance, then slowly stood up and faced the bored-looking students in her class.

"Uh, hi," she stammered. She didn't really understand why she had to do this-none of her other teachers made her introduce herself. "I'm Mary Katherine...but, you can call me MK." Not sure what else to say, she plopped right back down in her seat and tuned out the teacher in her embarrassment.

"Introduce myself in front of the class?" MK muttered under her breath. "What is this, second grade?!"

She heard Hans chuckle a little and turned to glare at him. The boy quickly stopped laughing and instead leaned in to tell her something. "Funny thing," he explained. "Ms. Tooth actually used to teach second grade-so when you see her being all bubbly and bouncy, now you know why."

MK grinned and observed as Ms. Tooth wrote on the board and addressed the students with an over-enthusiastic smile on her face. She was even worse than Anna.

"Are you sure it wasn't kindergarten?" MK jokingly asked. "She seems to fit that more."

"It could have been day care," Hans snickered back. "We just don't know, do we?"

MK found herself giggling. She couldn't help it. Hans was attractive.

"Excuse me," Ms. Tooth's clear voice rang out. "Lovebirds in the back? Pay attention, please."

MK jumped, blushing a little bit, and looked down at her desk. She heard a couple of whispers from other students around her and blushed even more.

"Sorry, Ms. Tooth," Hans piped up. "That was my fault."

Ms. Tooth sighed and walked over to her desk, lifting up a pile of papers to pass out. Hans flashed MK one last grin and turned back toward the front.

Meanwhile, MK continued to stare down at her desk, confused. Anna and the others had told her that Hans was a jerk, but here he was, being friendly to her and even taking the blame when they were caught talking.

Maybe the girls had been wrong? Maybe Hans wasn't really a jerk? MK glanced up at his handsome face one more time, wondering if that could be true.

She really hoped they were wrong.

Ms. Tooth was walking around the classroom, passing out papers as she went. "I'm passing back your chapter one tests from last week," she informed the class. "The class average was 85-and that's great! But keep in mind, it's going to get harder, so keep up with your studying."

At this, Ms. Tooth stopped in front of Hans' desk and handed him his paper. "Nice job as usual, Your Highness," she said with her usual perky smile. "Not bad for a jock."

Hans smiled sweetly up at her. "It's only because you're such a great teacher, Ms. Tooth." he replied.

Ms. Tooth grinned back at him, unfazed. "Don't kiss up to me, Hans," she snapped. "I already know I'm fabulous." With that, she turned and moved on to the next student.

MK looked at Hans' paper and noticed a big fat "A+" written in red at the top. Dang. Handsome, nice, _and_ smart. Suddenly the nickname "Prince Hans" made a whole lot of sense to her.

She looked up at the red-haired boy and smirked. "Were you trying to butter up the teacher?"

Hans gave her a sheepish grin. "Hey, you can't blame a guy for trying, right?"

MK suddenly found herself giggling again. Something was definitely wrong with her.

Oh, how she hoped they were wrong about him.

* * *

To her relief, MK's dad actually remembered to pick her up that afternoon.

"So, how was your first day?" Her father asked cheerfully as she got in the car.

"Fine," MK replied flatly.

"...Did you, uh, did you make any new friends?"

"...yeah."

Her father must have sensed that she didn't want to talk, because he said no more after that.

When they got home, MK trudged up to her room and flopped down on her bed, trying to think. She had a whole bunch of homework that her teachers had given her so that she could catch up with her classes, but she didn't feel like doing it right now.

MK thought back to what had happened at school that day. At first she had thought it would a be terrible, that she'd be too busy thinking about her mom to enjoy herself. But then she had met Audrey, and Anna, and the girls...and Hans.

MK felt her heart flutter at the thought of Hans. He really did seem like a nice guy. Why did Anna and Merida tell her to stay away from him? Maybe they just had some grudge against him? MK didn't know; she had only just met them, after all.

Oh, well. She still had the rest of the school year to find out about them. Maybe tomorrow she could confront both Hans and Anna, and clear up this whole mess that was going on inside of her.

But right now, she had a huge load of homework to focus on.

* * *

MK walked into her English class the next morning (not late, thankfully), wondering how on earth she would be able to get through the day. The night before had been awful; she had had to stay up until well past midnight to get all her homework done, and to make matters worse, her father had nearly burned down the house trying to cook dinner. That had set MK back about half an hour with her homework, and now she could barely keep her eyes open. She was pretty sure there was no way on earth she'd be able to pay attention to her teachers, which was bad because she still had a lot of catching up to do. Not to mention she still had to deal with the whole Hans issue. She could always put it off until tomorrow, but the way things were looking with her homework load it probably wouldn't do any good.

MK sighed and shook her head a little, trying to wake herself up, when suddenly she spotted him out of the corner of her eye.

"Hans."

Hans glanced up from his phone at the sound of his name, and smiled when he saw MK. "Hey, MK!" He greeted.

"H-hi! I didn't know you were in this class."

Hans shrugged. "Yeah, I had a doctor's appointment in the morning yesterday, so I wasn't here. Oh, by the way..." He quickly reached into his backpack an pulled out MK's favorite red pen. "You dropped this in Bio yesterday. Meant to give it to you, but you left."

"Oh!" MK felt her face turn pink as he took the pen from Hans. "You held on to it for me? That's...thank you!"

"It's no problem."

MK paused for a moment, gazing into Hans' bright green eyes. "You know..." She blurted, "I wasn't really expecting you to be like that,"

Hans frowned in confusion. "Um...what do you mean?"

MK blushed suddenly. Shoot, she hasn't meant to bring this up now! "I-I mean...you're nice," she stammered, trying to correct her mistake, "and they told me you would be a jerk, and..."

"Who told you that?"

"Uh, Anna and Merida and Rapunzel..."

"Ooooh, _Anna,_" Hans rolled his eyes and the smirk returned to his face. "That makes sense. Listen, Anna is just really bitter from our breakup. So now she's trying to convince everyone that I'm a bad guy or something."

MK's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, and she's got all her friends doing it too," Hans shook his head in disappointment. "I mean, she's an okay girl and all, but when she holds a grudge it's like..._yeesh._ It can get pretty brutal."

MK blinked in surprise. That did make sense. After all, she didn't know Anna very well. It was very possible that all of Hans' words were true. Before she could say any more, however, the late bell rang and MK was forced to go take her seat on the other side of the classroom.

MK tried to pay attention to her reading that day, but she could not focus. Between Mr. Fredrickson's voice lulling her to sleep (as if she wasn't sleep-deprived already) and the new information she had just gotten from Hans, the last thing she wanted to think about was character analysis of iHamlet. /i Her life was already full of drama, and she didn't need a tragic play to make it worse.

MK put her sleepy head down on her desk, wondering what she would say to Anna that day.

* * *

"...and 'e just blew 'is top at meh! What a jerk!"

MK stopped a few feet away from the lunch table, taken aback by Merida's loud rant. She was apparently talking about a guy, but MK didn't know who is was. Maybe it was Hans? She really hoped it wasn't Hans.

"Merida, he's going through a lot," she heard Anna say quietly. "You know him, you know better than to get on his nerves."

No, it probably wasn't Hans. Anna wouldn't defend Hans like that. MK sighed with relief and resumed walking toward the table.

"Alright, I'll fergive 'im this time," Merida grunted. "But if that beanstalk ever sasses me again I'll shoot an arrow up 'is nose!"

"MK!" Anna called out suddenly, probably trying to change the subject. Anna eagerly patted the seat next to her, and MK sat down with a smile.

"Hi guys," MK said cautiously. "Who's Merida so mad at?"

"Nobody," replied Anna, taking a bite of her lunch. This made MK frown for some reason. Anna took no notice and turned to her with a smile. "So what's new? You look beat."

MK groaned. "Ugh, don't get me started! Yesterday all my teachers just gave me all the homework of the semester to do in one night! I barely got any sleep."

"Yikes."

"Yeah." MK quietly took a bite of her food, then began to wonder how to approach the subject of Hans; it hadn't left her mind ever since that morning. "Anna..." She began, "Guys...you know what you guys were telling me yesterday?"

Rapunzel gave her a confused grin. "Which part? We talked about a lot of stuff yesterday, MK..."

"Right," MK blinked quickly and tried to clear her mind. "I mean, the part about Hans. I met him in Bio yesterday, and..." she suddenly trailed off.

The other girls looked at her on shock. "You met him?" Anna whispered.

"Yes, I did. Anyway..." MK paused, wondering how to continue. "Anyway, I talked to him yesterday and...and I think you guys were wrong. He was really nice to me."

"MK, no," Anna warned her, voice still low. "Hans isn't nice-he only acts that way to get girls."

"She's right, lass," Merida piped up. "He be foolin' ya. Playin' games with yer mind."

"No he's not." MK retorted. "I mean, he took the blame when we were caught talking. A-and look, he even held on to my pen for me after I dropped it in class yesterday," She pulled out her red pen as showed it to them while she spoke.

"Ha! I bet that's just some random pen he found in the hall!" Merida reached out and snatched the pen from MK's hands. "Lemme see that piece of-"

"Give that back!" MK cried out suddenly. She violently grabbed the pen from Merida's hands and held to close to her. "This is my pen, I know it's my pen!"

It was only her mom's pen, after all.

The other girls were staring at her in bewilderment. MK gulped and continued. "Look, I _like_ Hans, ok? And I think...I think you guys are being totally unfair to him! I mean..." MK turned and glared accusingly at Anna. "What if _Anna_ is just mad at Hans because he dumped her? Huh?"

Anna looked as if someone had punched her in the gut. "_What?!"_

"No, that's not what happened!" Mavis argued. "Hans didn't dump Anna, she dumped him!"

"Yeah!" agreed Rapunzel. "He was the one who was being a jerk to her first!"

"Well, did any of you actually see this happen?" MK challenged.

Anna squinted at her. "Are you calling me a liar?" she demanded.

"Well, I don't know you that well, do I?" MK snapped back, crossing her arms. "Maybe you are a liar."

Anna gaped at her while the other girls started at them in shock. "F-fine! Maybe I shouldn't have been so nice to you on your first day, then!" Anna spat.

"Fine!" shouted MK. "Maybe I'll just leave then!" She picked up her tray, stood up and stomped away from the girls' table.

"Fine!" Anna yelled after her. "But don't blame me when he leaves you crying!"

"You guys, what are you doing?" Rapunzel asked in horror. "She's going to get hurt if you let her go!" She stood up and cupped her hands around her mouth. "MK! Come back!"

"Leave 'er," Merida advised. "It's no use. I know how stubborn a ginger can be."

Rapunzel sat back down dejectedly while Anna glared down at her lunch. She wasn't hungry anymore.

Meanwhile, MK stomped aimlessly across the cafeteria, muttering angry words under her breath. A few other students looked up at her, but she shot them annoyed glares and they quickly looked away. MK sighed, looking for an empty table go sit down at alone, when suddenly a loud masculine voice caught her attention.

"Daaaaaang, that was one hell of a girl fight!"

MK whipped her head in the direction of the voice, to see a smirking white-haired boy with a blue hoodie looking right in her direction. MK squinted angrily at him, but he was unfazed.

"Did the witches finally drive you away from their table?" The boy asked. "I was wondering when it would happen. They just kinda have a talent for pissing everyone off."

MK brightened at these words as walked a little closer to their table. "Tell me about it!" She vented. "They just don't listen, do they?"

"No, they do not. Not to anyone-"

"No, Jack," another boy interrupted. "They don't listen to _you._" The raven-haired boy who was sitting next to Jack turned and looked at MK earnestly. "Nobody ever listens to Jack."

MK glanced thoughtfully glanced at the boy with black floppy hair. She felt as if she had seen him somewhere before, but she couldn't remember where.

Jack loosely wrapped his arms around a large stick that he was carrying and scoffed. "Unfortunately for everyone, I'm usually right." The black-haired boy rolled his eyes and Jack turned his attention back to MK. "You're the new girl, right? I saw you in my Math class."

MK blinked. She hasn't seen Jack in her Math class. If she had, she would have remembered. In any case, she shrugged and nodded. "Yep, that's me. MK."

"You need a place to sit, MK? We still have room for one more." said Jack.

MK hesitated, not sure whether to accept or not. She looked over the people at Jack's table. There was the tall raven-haired boy from earlier, and in addition was another boy and a girl, both of them with dark brown hair and glasses. The boy had his nose stuck in a book (he probably didn't even notice that MK was there), and the girl was super short, with a mess of brown curly hair tied up in a ponytail.

"Um..." MK stammered. She turned to look for another empty table she could sit at. Finding none, she shrugged and walked over to Jack's table. "I guess so."

Jack moved to his side a couple of inches to make room, and then gave the black-haired boy a push. "Move over, man. Be polite."

The other boy didn't look at Jack and smoothly scooted in the opposite direction.

MK sat down between them. "Thanks," she mumbled shyly. She glanced at the black-haired boy again. Where has she seen him before?

"No probs," replied Jack. "What happened over there, anyway?"

MK shrugged again and picked at her food. "Eh, I'd rather not talk about it. They were just being judgey, that's all."

"Judgey?" The black-haired boy raised an eyebrow at her. "Anna? And Rapunzel? That's out of character..."

"Well, you don't need to worry about that here," Jack assured her. "We don't judge anyone...except for Hiccup, 'cause Hiccup's a nerd."

The brown-haired boy, Hiccup, gave Jack a look from over her glasses. He said nothing and just returned to reading his book.

MK cocked her head. "Your name is Hiccup?"

"It's a Scandinavian name," Hiccup responded without looking up. "It means someone who's small or weak. Kinda like 'Pipsqueak' only it's Hiccup."

The curly-haired girl laughed at him before grinning at MK. "Hi, I'm Norma," she said. "I'm the only normal one here."

"She means that she's the only one with a normal name," the black-haired boy cut in. "The rest of us are just unfortunate. For example," he pointed a skinny finger at Jack. "His name just happens to be Jack Frost."

MK laughed in surprise and turned to the white-haired boy. "Jack _Frost?_" she chuckled. "Wait, are you serious?"

Jack smiled and shrugged. "Yeah. My family name is Frost, so I guess my parents thought it would be funny to name me Jack. Not very original though; there's like ten guys in my extended family named Jack. Don't get me started on what happens when someone calls Jack at a family reunion."

MK burst out laughing. "And what about you?" She asked, turning look the black haired boy.

"Oh, his name takes the cake," Jack snickered.

The other boy just smirked. "They call me The Once-ler," he said nonchalantly. "Or just Once-ler. You can call me Oncie if you want."

"Can I call you Oncie?" Jack piped up.

"No."

MK giggled. "And where did _that _name come from?"

"Hell if I knew," Once-ler replied. "My mom must have been drunk when she had me."

Jack snickered again. "That explains why you came out so screwed up."

Once-ler reached out a skinny arm over MK and whacked Jack on the head. Jack responded by picking up his staff and hitting Once-ler's head, but he accidentally hit MK in the process.

"Ow!"

"Careful, Jack!" Once-ler scolded playfully. "You hit the poor girl."

MK couldn't help but giggle a little. "It's fine; why do you carry a stick, anyway?"

"It's his security blanket," Once-ler piped up, causing everyone but Jack to laugh.

"It is _not._" Jack retorted. " It's a safety tool." He smirked at MK. "I need something to defend myself with when all the girls start chasing after me."

Once-ler scoffed and MK rolled her eyes. "Of course," she chuckled. "But I can't believe they allow you to carry that around at school."

"They tried to take it away from him once," Once-ler put in. "It was not pretty."

Jack hit Once-ler's head again, but he didn't deny it. "Yeah, so they let me keep it as long as I don't hurt anyone. Which is cool, because I get to do this," he reached over with his staff and used the hooked part of it to lift Once-ler's fedora off of his head and carry it away from him. Once-ler glared at his friend and grabbed his hat from him.

MK laughed at them.

"Don't worry about them, MK," Norma spoke up. "They're always acting like that. I like to sit here just so I can watch their stupid antics every day."

"I can see that," MK snickered. "Why does Hiccup sit here, then?"

"Hiccup's just a nerd."

"Oh, for God's sake!" Hiccup threw his hands in the air with frustration. "Look, I'm not studying, ok? It's fiction!"

"It's still nerdy," Norma deadpanned, taking an indifferent bite of her food.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and went back to his book as Once-ler and Jack finally stopped fighting.

MK simply continued laughing. These guys were even more fun than the girls' table. She was glad she had left them.

* * *

MK's heart was pounding as she stood in front of the door to her Biology class. She was early, probably because she had walked here a little quicker than usual to avoid Anna. MK gulped. Hands shaking, she slowly opened the door and peeked inside. Ms. Tooth wasn't there yet, but there were a few students in there getting their stuff together, and Hans was sitting in his spot staring blankly at his phone.

MK took a deep breath and walked over to her seat. Hans spotted her, put his phone away and smirked at her sexily. "Hey," he greeted. "Saw your little outburst at lunch today."

MK blushed fiercely and almost missed her chair when sitting down. "O-oh, you saw that?" she stammered, trying to sound nonchalant and failing. "Y-yeah, I'm not quite sure what happened...I didn't mean to yell, I just...yeah..."

Hans just grinned at her. "It's fine," he replied. "I know how you feel-it's impossible _not_ to yell at stubborn people like Anna. There's always just something about her that pisses people off."

MK blinked, a little surprised at his remark. She hasn't expected Hans to say something like that about someone. Jack had said the exact same thing, but Hans sounded a little more...aggressive about it. But then again, he had had a history with Anna that MK didn't know much about. He was probably right.

"Anyway," Hans continued, "If you don't have anywhere to go tomorrow, you can always join _me_ for lunch."

MK nearly fell out of her chair. "W-what? Me? Really?" Was she dreaming? She must have been dreaming.

"Yeah, I've got a table in the back, we could hang out, what do you say?"

"Y-yes!" MK squealed, maybe a little too excitedly. "I'd love to!"

Hans grinned. "All right then, I'll see you tomorrow."

Ms. Tooth walked in at that moment, cutting their conversation short. They didn't want to get in trouble again. But MK couldn't really pay attention to Biology that day. She kept stealing glances at Hans, imagining what their lunch date would be like tomorrow (well, maybe it was too soon to call it a date, but that's how Hans made it seem.)

When she went home that day she sped through her homework and jumped into bed, early as it was. She couldn't wait for tomorrow to come.

* * *

Lunch time. The moment MK had been waiting for. The girl tried her best to keep herself from bursting with excitement. Hans had said that he'd have an empty table in the back, but she couldn't find a single one the wasn't filled to the brim with people. MK sighed. Maybe if she waited by the lunch line he would find her.

At that moment, she felt a tap on her shoulder. MK whirled around excitedly, expecting to see Hans, but instead she found herself looking into Anna's big blue eyes.

"Oh, Anna, it's you." MK's shoulders dropped a little in disappointment.

Anna looked at the floor in shame. "Hey MK. Look, I know you're not happy to see me, but I just felt really bad about what happened yesterday," she babbled. "I'm really sorry, I was stubborn and I overreacted and I was stupid. Can you please come back?" Anna glanced up at MK with a pleading look on her face. "We can work this out, I promise!"

MK sighed. Anna did seem genuinely sorry, but she didn't have time to worry about it right now. "Sorry Anna, but I can't." She explained. "I told Hans that I'd be eating lunch with him today."

"B-but MK..."

"I'm sorry,Anna..." MK turned and instinctively walked off, leaving Anna standing there alone with a distraught expression on her face. _Dang it,_ MK thought. _So much for waiting by the lunch line. How am I gonna find him now?_ The girl slowed down and aimlessly checked all the tables around her, but to no avail.

MK sighed, leaning against the wall, wondering what to do now. Why hasn't she arranged a meeting spot or something? How stupid could she be? Just as she was mentally slapping herself in the face, she suddenly spotted Hans, standing with his back to her a few feet away.

Sighing with relief, MK walked over to him, ready to apologize for being so late. But as she got closer, she realized that he wasn't alone. There was someone with him, a girl. Upon closer inspection, MK realized that it was Audrey, and she was standing in front of Hans while he talked to her, an annoyed look on her face.

MK's chest tightened with sudden jealousy. What was he doing with another girl? _Wait, maybe they're just friends_, MK thought to herself. _I shouldn't be jumping to conclusions._

As she got closer, however, she was able to listen in on their conversation, and it didn't sound very friendly.

"...Look, I'm not interested, ok?" Audrey snapped. "I already have someone else that I'm into."

Hans chuckled smoothly. "Oh, ok." he said. "Who is it?"

Audrey hesitated and turned her head away from Hans. "Just...someone else, ok?"

Hans laughed again, in total disbelief. "Of course you do," he replied sarcastically. "Hey look, I don't want to sound pushy or anything, but you really caught my attention. My date's not going to be here for a while, so what do you say we just hang out, huh?"

MK just stood there, shocked. What was she hearing? Hans had invited _her_ to lunch. Why was he talking like that to Audrey? Did he even care at all?

Was Anna right?

"No thank you," Audrey was saying, not bothering to hide her snappy tone. "Now will you please leave me alone?"

Hans grinned, unfazed, but he did as Audrey told him. "Ok, ok." He chuckled, backing away from her. "But if you change your mind, you know where to find m-" he was suddenly cut off when he bumped right into someone. Hans whirled around, annoyed. "Hey, why don't you watch where you're-MK?"

MK was still standing there dumbfounded, a little dizzy, trying to keep the tears in her eyes. Hans stared back at her in shock. "How...how long have you been standing there?"

At this, MK straightened up defiantly, though still trying not to cry. "L-long enough," she whimpered. "Hans, what are you doing? I-I thought...I mean, you said I could..."

Hans bit his lip, embarrassed, then he shrugged. "Ok, you got me," he said, but being busted didn't stop him from grinning with conceit.

This made MK mad. "What's the matter with you?!" she raged. "Why would you ask _me_ to lunch if you're just gonna dump me like that?! You shouldn't have asked me, then!"

"MK, seriously, calm down," Hans cautioned her, glancing around to see who was listening.

"No, I won't calm down! You lied to me!"

"I didn't lie to you! I had every intention of eating lunch with you! I was trying to be nice!" He stood up straight and sneered at her, intimidating MK a little. "You're the one who tried to make it seem like a huge deal! Well, I hate to break it to you, but if I paid a huge amount of attention to every girl who showed interest in me, I wouldn't have any time left at all!"

"_Wha-?!_"

"You should feel lucky I even tried to be nice to you at all," Hans continued, "Most girls would _die_ for a chance like that."

MK gaped at him in bewilderment. How conceited _was_ this guy? "S-so that's it?" She spat. "I'm just another one of your fangirls, that's all?"

"Uh, yeah," Hans chuckled at her as of it was obvious. "I mean, come on, a guy needs all the attention he can get."

MK sneered at Hans and stood up straight, "Alright then," she snapped angrily. "Well, you can kiss this 'fangirl' goodbye, you..._douchebag."_ And with that, she whirled around and walked off.

Hans snickered, unfazed by the insult. "Whatever," he called after her. "One girl isn't gonna make much difference to me."

MK ignored him and continued walking aimlessly across the cafeteria. That...stupid...ugly liar! How dare he trick her like that! She wanted to stuff his head on the trash can. Or smack him over the head with her tray. Or pour her hot soup down his shirt. Or stuff his lying princely mouth with "the beef" and forced him to swallow it whole.

_Why didn't I listen to Anna? _she thought angrily, still fighting back tears. _She was right all along._ MK wasn't sure where she was going, but almost inevitably, she found herself standing right in front of Anna's table once again.

The girls were talking about something, but they quieted when MK stopped in front of the table. MK took a shaky breath, preparing herself for the onslaught of "I told you so"s. It was ok. She could take it. Her biggest fear at the moment was that they wouldn't accept her back after what happened.

An uncomfortable silence passed between them, but then Rapunzel finally spoke up. "MK...you're back."

MK shifted her feet. "Yeah..." Her voice was barely audible.

"Did Hans dump ye like yesterday's trash?" Merida blurted, to which she received a shove from both Rapunzel and Mavis.

MK looked at her feet. "Yeah...well, sort of, it's like..." She paused at the sight of Anna patting the seat next to her invitingly. MK sat down next to her and continued. "He invited me to lunch, and I thought...well, that it meant something to him, but he just wanted me to be one of his bit-" she bit her tongue suddenly. "...one of his _admirers._ You guys were right about him all along."

"Told ya," said Merida. Rapunzel shot her a glare and Mavis groaned.

"Merida, just stop talking please," the black haired girl snapped.

If MK hadn't felt so upset she might have laughed at them, but right now she was too busy trying not to cry. "Yeah," she said again. "I'm real sorry, you guys."

Anna smiled compassionately at MK and wrapped her arms around her in a big hug. "It's ok," she reassured. "I know, Hans is quite the charmer, isn't he? I know how you feel..."

MK nodded gratefully, accepting the hug. Of all the girls, she had expected Anna to hate her guts, but she was relived to see that this was not the case. As she wiped the tears from her eyes, she noticed that the other girls, including Merida, were giving her forgiving smiles. She hadn't needed to worry about them after all.

Just as Anna released MK from her hug, Rapunzel seemed to spot something behind MK and her eyes sparkled a little. "Don't look now," the brunette said with a grin, "but the Sass Squad is here."

"Ugh, Rapunzel!"

MK whirled around in surprise at the familiar voice to see Jack and his crew from yesterday heading toward their table.

"We told you not to call us that," Jack complained. "It makes us sound like a bunch of snooty cheerleaders."

Rapunzel just laughed as the four of them set their trays down on the table. "Besides, a bunch of freshmen took over our table," Jack continued. "So we're here to invade yours. Scoot over." They all squeezed together onto the table as the girls playfully complained about the boys' presence.

"Hey, quit whining," Once-ler said. "This was the only way to keep Jack from hitting all those kids with his stick. He'd be expelled if it wasn't for me." He gave Jack a playful slap on the back and the girls giggled.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I told you, I wasn't going to hit them. But even so, they should have given up their table. As a junior, I have table priority over freshmen."

Rapunzel perked up. "Well, I'm a senior," she pointed out. "Does that mean I can kick you out of here?"

"What? No, that's not fair!"

Even MK started laughing at this point. Mavis poked a pale finger at Jack, shaking her head with mock disapproval. "Don't be a hypocrite, Jack," she teased. "Society doesn't like that, you know."

"Ah, cut him some slack, Mavis," Once-ler cut in. "He's only an idiot _most_ of the time."

"What's wrong with MK?" Norma piped up suddenly. Once-ler and Jack turned and seemed to see MK's tear-stained face for the first time.

"Aw, did you guys make her cry?" Jack blurted. "That's messed up."

"No, Jack..." MK cut in, giggling in spite of herself. "It's just...boy trouble. They were comforting me."

"Boys suuuuck!" Merida yelled out.

Next to her, Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Sexist," he mumbled.

In response, Merida snatched the book in his hands and used it to hit him on the head. "_Nerd._"

Jack paid no attention to the antics of his friends and rested his head on his staff. "Well then, let's not talk about boys," he declared matter-of-factly. "We'll find something more interesting to discuss...are you all going to the football game on Friday?"

A few whoops an cheers erupted from the table. "I'm definitely goin'!" Merida piped up. "My friend Astrid's gonna be playin' for the other team! Gotta go cheer her on!"

"Wait, what?" Hiccup looked up from his book in surprise. "They let a girl play on their football team?"

"You got a problem with that, Pipsqueak?" Merida snapped.

Hiccup frowned and turned back to his book. "No, I'm just...it's new to me, that's all."

"Heh, well I should tell ye that Astrid is the toughest member of the team-she could take out any of our brutes with one tackle."

"Whoa, hey, Merida!" Jack burst out. "You can't go to our game and cheer on the other team!"

"I'm not gonna cheer fer the other team! Just fer Astrid!"

"That's the same thing!"

While Merida and Jack continued their little squabble, MK turned back to Anna. "So, wait, you guys are all friends?" She asked. "But Jack said you were 'witches'."

Anna giggled. "That's just Jack being Jack," she replied. "Are you going to the game?"

MK shrugged. "Don't know. I've never been to a football game."

"Well then, you have to come. It's a good way to get into the school spirit."

MK smiled and looked around at her new friends. "Ok, I guess I'll go."

Maybe her first few days had been a little bumpy, but hey, it had all worked out in the end. And besides, now she had a bunch of new friends to hang out with...maybe school wouldn't be so bad this year after all.


	2. Episode 2: An Intimate Gathering

**A/N: So, this episode is kind of a filler. No major conflicts involved, but there's a good amount of characterization and it's pretty entertaining in my opinon. XDD Enjoy!**

* * *

Episode 2: An Intimate Gathering

Anna shifted uncomfortably as she sat on the bleachers, grimacing as the cold hard metal pushed against her tailbone. She wasn't used to sitting on bleachers, but she wanted to see the game and didn't want to seem like a weakling, so she kept it to herself. Her cousin Rapunzel sat next to her, looking at something on her phone and paying no attention to Anna. Anna, meanwhile, searched the crowd, trying to find some trace of the rest of her friends so they could all sit together.

"I hope MK makes it here ok," Anna said, frowning with concern. "She might get lost."

"Don't worry about her, Anna," Rapunzel reassured her. "She probably ran into Jack and Oncie on their way here. You know them-they just seem to have an inner homing device when it comes to girls."

Anna giggled at this, but continued to search frantically for her friends. A few rows away, she noticed a familiar head full of floppy blond hair. Anna beamed with delight. "Kristoff!" she called, waving him over.

Kristoff turned at the sound of his name, and smiled widely when he saw Anna. Waving as he walked over, Kristoff quickly engulfed his girlfriend into a big hug. "Hey," he said softly, kissing Anna's head tenderly. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," Anna giggled. She sat back down on the bleachers and Kristoff sat next to her. "What about you?"

The older boy shrugged. "Oh, same old same old." He paused and glanced behind Anna. "Hi, Rapunzel."

Rapunzel waved at him sweetly and Kristoff turned back to Anna. "This is smaller than your normal group of friends," he said to her. "Where is everyone?"

"Oh they're coming," Anna replied. "We have this whole bleacher reserved for them."

Kristoff gave a low whistle at the row of empty seats that Anna had indicated. He leaned back in his seat thoughtfully. "Must be nice to have so many friends," he mumbled.

Anna crossed her arms and grinned at her boyfriend. "Kristoff, I told you: if you're lonely, you can always come hang out with us."

Kristoff smiled gratefully at her. "Thanks, Anna, but you know me. I'm not naturally good at socializing with people like you are..."

"That's ok, sweetie," Anna cooed. "You can do whatever you want. I was just saying, you know." She leaned over to kiss Kristoff's cheek, but before she could she felt a long wooden object hit her on the head. Anna winced in pain, them glared up at Jack, who was standing a row above her, holding up his large staff and grinning. "What was that for, Jack?" she snapped.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Uh, that was for making us all wait by the entrance for like half an hour while you were here having a love fest with your boyfriend," he explained. "...and Rapunzel, apparently."

"Hey!" Rapunzel piped up. "I was not involved in that."

Surprised, Anna looked behind the snickering Jack and noticed that all the rest of her friends were standing behind him, all with annoyed looks on their faces as they started to take their seats. "Y-you guys were waiting for us?" Anna asked sheepishly. "I'm so sorry, oh my gosh! We were here waiting for you!"

"Hey, it's fine," Once-ler said as he plopped down in the seat behind Anna. "We're here now...but you're lucky we were able to find you in this huge crowd."

"Homing device," Rapunzel murmured, making her cousin giggle. Spotting MK at the end of the bleachers, Anna eagerly waved her over and made some room between herself and Rapunzel.

MK sat down next to Anna. "Wow, this stadium is so crowded," she observed. "I mean, I know football is popular, but I had no idea there would be this many people, especially all the girls."

"Girls?" Anna rolled her eyes. "Oh, most of them don't care about football. They're just here for the quarterback." Anna nodded out to the field where Hans was getting ready to take his position.

MK grimaced. "Ugh," she groaned. "It'll be hard for me to cheer on the team now."

Anna bit her lip as she suddenly remembered what had happened between Hans and MK. "Hey, don't worry about him," she quickly assured her. "I usually just cheer for the team in general."

MK just nodded.

Anna attempted to change the subject. "By the way, have you met Kristoff?" She quickly turned to her boyfriend and grabbed his hand. "Kristoff, this is MK. MK, Kristoff."

"Hi," Kristoff said shyly, waving to Anna's new friend.

MK grinned back. "Hey, so you're Kristoff? It's nice to finally meet you. Anna talks about you all the time."

Kristoff seemed surprised. "She does?"

"Of course I do, silly!" Anna giggled as she nudged Kristoff. "But I'm not annoying about it or anything. I'm not annoying, right, MK?"

MK playfully raised an eyebrow. _"Wellll..."_

Kristoff chuckled into his hand as Anna gaped. MK just laughed and held out her hands. "I'm just joking," she said. "I'm kidding. Don't take me seriously."

Anna pouted a little but continued smiling. "Dangit, MK..."

MK just giggled.

Anna stuck her tongue out at her before her stomach growled. She quickly stood up. "Well, anyway, I'm going to go get some snacks. You guys just stay here and talk, be friendly...but not itoo/i friendly." She playfully nudged Kristoff and hurried off to a nearby snack bar.

MK and Kristoff just sat there awkwardly, not saying anything to each other. Kristoff bit his lip. "She, uh..." He pointed to the empty space between himself and MK. "She does this a lot."

"Yeah, so I've heard."

The game soon started and everyone had to stop their conversations. Anna's school's team was able to score several touchdowns, but in the second quarter, the opponents began to make a comeback.

"Woooooo! Go Astrid!" Merida cheered, pointing down at the small but agile figure on the field. "That's Astrid making all the touchdowns down there!"

"Ok, that's nice!" Jack retorted, annoyed. "Just sit down and quit cheering for the other team!"

"I'm not!"

But despite Astrid's efforts, the opponents lost, and the home team ran victoriously off the field to the cheers of everyone in the school. Anna had to hold on to Kristoff and Rapunzel's hands in order to avoid getting lost in the crowd, but somehow they were all able to get out of the stadium without being separated.

"Victory!" Jack cried when they were outside, raising his staff in the air. The others cheered. "We should do something to celebrate."

At this, Hiccup looked up from the book in his hands. "Wait, did we win?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Hiccup, if you're just gonna be reading the whole time, why do you even bother coming to games?"

"You force me to come."

Suddenly Merida perked up and started waving at someone in the distance. "Astrid!" She called out. "Over here!"

Astrid was on her way to the girls locker room, when she spotted her redheaded friend and walked over. Her helmet was off now, revealing a small pretty face with thick blond hair and aquamarine eyes. "Hey, Merida!" She greeted with a smile. "Did you see me?"

"Sure did!" Merida replied. "Ye had me scared fer a while, lass! I thought our team would lose because of ya!"

Astrid laughed and Jack walked over to her, leaning cockily on his staff. "Yeah, but we still won, though," the boy piped up, making Astrid roll her eyes.

"Laugh it up," Astrid snapped, poking Jack's chest. "We'll get you next time. Don't underestimate me just because I'm a girl."

Jack snickered. "You should tell that to Hiccup," he said, nodding in his friend's direction. "He doesn't think that girls should be on a football team."

Hiccup stared up in horror. "Jack! That's not what I said!"

But at this point Astrid was already nose to nose with him. "Then what did you say, huh?" She asked him cooly. "Tell me, I can take it."

Hiccup gulped and took a few steps backward as his friends giggled a little. "I just said...that it was surprising...most schools don't like having girls on their team, and..."

"Like your school?"

"No...yes...No! Dammit, Jack!" The others laughed at him, and Hiccup glared. "Why do you guys do this to me?" He turned back to Astrid, who was also laughing, and tried to fix up his mistake. "You play good. Your school is great."

"Well, thanks, runt." Astrid replied. She gave Hiccup a light punch on the shoulder, making him wince in pain, and grinned. "I'll forgive you for whatever you really said...this time." The other kids giggled again, and Astrid turned back to the locker room. "Anyway, I have to go," she informed them. "See you all later."

"Wow, sassy," Rapunzel murmured, nudging Hiccup with her elbow. "She should totally be part of your Sass Squad."

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

When Astrid was gone, Jack turned to his friends once more. "Alright, like I was saying before," he began. "In honor of our victory, I'm hosting an intimate gathering at my place, and-"

"Did you just say 'intimate gathering at my place'?" Once-ler interrupted with a frown.

"Yeah, I said that."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, man. 'Party at my place' is so cliche."

"See Jack, this is why you can't be as cool as me."

Jack ignored him."7:00 PM, my place," he snapped. "You are all _required_ to come. No exceptions."

Anna snickered as her friends started to groan. "Are you going?" She asked Rapunzel.

"Yeah," Rapunzel replied. "It's been a while since I went to an intimate gathering." She giggled. "Maybe I'll bring Eugene."

"Yeah! I was thinking of bringing Elsa too. Hold on..." She pulled out her phone and sent a text to her sister.

_Hey Elsa, Jack's having an "intimate gathering" at his place 2nite. Wanna come with me? Everyone's going._

_Sorry,_ came Elsa's reply. _Have a lot of homework tonight. Can Rapunzel take you?_

..._Yeah, I guess so...but are you sure you don't wanna come? It's been a while..._

_Sorry, Anna..._

Anna sighed and put her phone away. "Hey Rapunzel, can I have a ride?"

"Elsa's not coming?" her cousin asked with a frown.

"Nah, you know Elsa. She's just being...herself."

* * *

Anna glanced out the window as Rapunzel pulled up in front of Jack's house. For a moment she thought they were the first ones to arrive, but then she noticed Once-ler talking to Jack on the front porch. Of course he would be here first. Once-ler and Jack had been best friends for years.

The two girls stepped out of the car and walked up to the porch, waving. Once-ler waved back at them and Jack frowned. "You're late," the white-haired boy said.

"What?" Anna replied, confused. "You said 7, right?"

"Yeah, and it's 7:02 right now!"

"Oh give it a rest, Jack."

Jack grinned. "Hey, where's Eugene?" he asked Rapunzel. "I thought you said you'd bring him here."

"Oh, yeah, he couldn't come," Rapunzel said, looking down. "He has a whole bunch of homework he needs to finish up..."

"Aw, man! That's what he says every time!" Jack groaned. "Rapunzel, are you sure he's not cheating on you or something?"

Rapunzel tensed up a little, but shrugged it off and smiled. "No Jack, don't be ridiculous. Eugene would never do that."

"Are you sure?" Once-ler smirked. "I mean, he is in college. You know what guys do in college."

Jack and Anna laughed, not noticing that Rapunzel was glaring at them fiercely. "_Stop_ it, you guys." she snapped. "Let's go inside already." She pushed past them and into Jack's house. Anna followed her, a little concerned about Rapunzel's tone.

The boys didn't seem to notice it. "Uh oh, she's denying it," Jack teased as he closed the door behind them."It must be true. Better watch out Rapun-"

"I said _stop it!_" Rapunzel suddenly screamed. "_What part of that do you not understand?!_ "

The room was silent.

"Eugene just..._isn't here,_ ok?" Rapunzel continued, still upset. "That doesn't mean he's off messing around, so stop saying that!" She paused, trying to compose herself, as the others stared back at her with their mouths agape. Rapunzel was unfazed. "Now are we going to have an intimate gathering or what?!" she huffed, and turned to plop herself down on a nearby sofa. She didn't look at the others.

Jack, Once-ler and Anna just stood their looking at their feet and glancing nervously at each other, feeling extremely guilty. "R-Rapunzel..." Once-ler began. "We were just kidding, you know...I mean we know that's not what's really going on."

"Yeah," Jack added quickly. "I mean, we know Eugene. He's too cool to do something like that. The only reason we _can_ joke about it is cause we know it won't happen, right?"

Rapunzel did not look up. "Well, stop it." She said, much quieter this time. "I don't want you to joke about that."

Anna sat down next to her cousin. "Punzie, we're really sorry." She soothed. "We wouldn't have done it if we knew you would get so upset..."

At this Rapunzel looked back up at her, and Anna noticed a hint of tears in her eyes. "Y-you don't understand Anna..." The brunette said quietly. "It's not just you guys. Ever since Eugene went off to college, it's been the same thing. Everyone's coming up to me going like, 'College guys cheat!'" Rapunzel raised the pitch of her voice slightly so as to mock her teasers. "'Eugene's cheating!' 'Hes cheating!' 'Cheat cheat cheating!' _I hate it!_"

Anna patted Rapunzel's back softly. "Don't worry Rapunzel. We won't do it again. Right guys?" Anna looked over at the boys, who nodded earnestly.

"Yeah, we just won't talk about it anymore," Jack said. He suddenly paused for a moment, then perked up. "Hey, I know something that will cheer you up." He grinned over at Anna and Rapunzel. "There's someone who's been dying to see you two for the longest time."

Anna was confused, until she spotted two small pairs of eyes peaking out at her from behind a wall. She grinned widely. "Emma! Sophie!" She squealed.

Hearing the sound of Anna calling their names, Jack's two little sisters jumped out joyfully from behind the wall. "Anna and Rapunzel!" they called, running into the older girls' arms.

Rapunzel wiped away her tears and scooped Sophie up into her arms. "Oooooh, I've missed you so much!" She cooed. "Look at how much you've grown!"

While the girls were occupied, Jack and Once-ler plopped down on a couch, relieved that the drama was over. "Crisis averted," Once-ler said. "Nice job bringing your sisters out."

"Yeah man, I swear, I was just joking, I was not expecting her to blow up like that." said Jack. He scoffed quietly. "Women...so dramatic. But hey, at least now they're occupied until the others show up..."

"Where is everyone, anyway?"

"Late as usual. You just can't trust

people to be punctual these days."

Once-ler rolled his eyes at Jack, and as if on cue the doorbell rang. Jack got up to open the door, and Merida, Hiccup, and Norma flooded into the house.

"Why is yer house always so cold?" Merida snapped after the initial greetings. She zipped up her sweater and glared at Jack, who just shrugged.

"So you all came together," Jack observed. "Is that why you're so late?"

"Aye, I had to pick up Hiccup an' Norma on the way. And we're not that late, Jack, it's only been ten minutes."

"Where do you want us to put the housewarming gifts?" Norma asked suddenly, holding out a box.

Jack frowned with confusion and took the box from her. "Housewarming gifts?" He asked. "You guys have been here a million times, why are you just now bringing me a housewarming gi-" He was cut off when he lifted the top off the box and a bunch of rubber snakes flew in his face, causing everyone to laugh.

"Real funny," Jack muttered. "I'll get you back for that later."

At that moment, Sophie jumped off Anna's lap and ran over to the three newcomers. "Can I have a present too?"

"Sure Sophie," replied Norma. "We'll get you a nicer present next time."

"Where's Jamie?" asked Hiccup, who wasn't holding a book for once.

"He's upstairs," Jack replied. "On the computer, probably. I might call him down later."

"So wait, all your siblings are going to hang out with us?"

"Yeah, Hic. This is a _family-friendly_ gathering. What did you think was going to happen?"

"So we're not going to play Truth or Dare?" Once-ler cut in. "I was looking forward to that."

"Oh, we're going to play," Jack smirked. "I have some wonderful things planned for all of you. We just have to wait until the others get here."

* * *

It was 7:30 when MK pulled up in front of Jack's house with her dad. The girl glanced nervously out at the two-story house, wondering if anyone was already there. She sure hoped that it hasn't been cancelled or something without her knowing. That would be so awkward.

But what if they were mad at her for being late? She had only just met them, after all. She had no idea how seriously they took their "intimate gatherings."

"Actually, I'm starting to rethink this," MK broke out suddenly. "Let's just go home and tell them that I got sick or something."

Her father looked at her, confused. "Why?" he asked. "They're your friends, aren't they?"

"Well, yeah...sort of..."

Bomba paused. "Well, it's your decision, I guess. But, you know, I think you should go and have fun, ok?"

MK smiled at her dad, relieved that he was actually showing her some affection. She had spent the last hour trying to make him understand that she was going to a friend's house at 7, but as usual, her dad was not able to fully get it until they were late. "Thanks, dad." She said with a smile.

"Uh, no problem," her father replied, smiling back. "So you're going? Because I...kinda need to get back to what I was doing at home..."

MK's smile faded.

"I-I mean," her dad stammered, "you take your time, sweetie...it's just that..."

MK sighed. "No, don't worry dad, I'll get out of your hair." She quickly stepped out of the car and slammed the door.

"No sweetie, I didn't mean it like that...!"

MK ignored him and just walked up toward the house in annoyance. Just as she was about to ring the doorbell, she noticed someone else heading in her direction. "Mavis!" she called, waving in the girl's direction.

Mavis was wearing a bright red sweater over her usual dark clothing, which was the only way that MK had been able to see her in the dark. "Hey, MK!" Mavis waved back. "I'm glad I'm not the only one who's late." She stepped onto the porch next to MK and rang the doorbell. "My dad was holding me back like crazy," Mavis continued with a roll of her eyes. "He wouldn't let me leave until he knew all the details. 'Whose house is it at? Who's going to be there? Will there be girls or boys? Are the parents home? How long will it last?'" Mavis crossed her arms and rolled her eyes again. "So overprotective," she muttered. "Seriously."

MK laughed a little at Mavis' imitation of her dad. "He just cares about you, that's all," she told her. "You're lucky. I wish my dad was like that. I was late because I spent like an hour trying to remind him that I exist."

Before they could say any more, the door was opened, and Jack stood there grinning. "Hey, there you guys are! Finally!" He stepped aside to let the two girls in, and called to the others, who were already there. "The gang's all here!"

"MK you made it!" Anna exclaimed, giving her a hug.

"You all can head upstairs," Jack was saying. "I'm just gonna take a quick bathroom break."

MK followed the others to the stairs. "What are we going upstairs for?" she asked.

"So we don't bother Jack's mom," Anna replied. "We get kinda loud when we play Truth or Dare."

MK cringed. "Oh, no. We're going to play Truth or Dare?"

"Of course," Anna said with a giggle. "It's an Intimate Gathering tradition."

MK was about to say something else when she felt a small pair of hands pulling on her leggings. She looked down to see a small girl with blond hair and big blue eyes staring up at her. "Are you new?" The little girl asked.

MK smiled a little. "Um...yeah, I am."

"This is Sophie," Anna put in, nodding at the little girl. She turned to another girl, this one with straight brown hair, who was holding her hand. "And this is Emma. They're Jack's little sisters. Guys, this is MK."

Emma waved shyly at MK, while Sophie squealed and attached herself to MK's leg in a big hug. MK smiled at her adorableness and let her hug her until she to the top of the stairs.

"Ok," Once-ler announced as he opened the door to a large, empty guest room. "Just sit down on a circle on the floor, we'll start when Jack gets back."

MK sat herself down on the carpeted floor between Mavis and Once-ler, letting Sophie sit on her lap. After a couple of minutes, Jack came running up the stairs and into the room, plopping himself on the floor next to Once-ler.

"Sorry I took so long," the white-haired boy said. "Who wants to start?"

"I think MK should start," Rapunzel cut in. "Since she's new."

"Huh?" MK's eyes widened in surprise as she looked around at the grinning faces. "Um, ok." She surveyed the circle, deciding who to ask, when her gaze fell on Anna.

"Anna, Truth or Dare?"

Anna smiled sheepishly. "Truth."

MK thought for a moment. "What...when did you first meet Kristoff?"

"Noooo!" Merida called out while Anna beamed. A bunch of anguished groans filled the room. MK was confused until she noticed the strawberry-blond haired girl stand up in the middle of the circle and beam down at her.

"I'm so glad you asked, MK!" Anna squealed. "Nobody ever wants to hear me tell that story-"

"And nobody wants to hear it now," Jack interrupted. "Sit down, Anna."

"What? Hey, no fair!"

"It's ok, Anna," Norma cut in. "You can tell her the story some other time when you're not around everyone else whose heard it like fifteen zillion times before."

Anna pouted and sat back down in her spot.

MK shrugged sympathetically at her, but continued the game. "Ok, I'll ask Mavis instead. Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Do..._you_ have a crush on anyone?"

Mavis looked at the ground and blushed. "Actually, I do."

"Wait, what? You do?" Anna asked as she was accompanied by surprised gasps. "That's news."

Once-ler gave Jack a quick sidelong glance before turning to Mavis. "Who?" He asked eagerly.

"I'm not telling," Mavis singsonged. "MK didn't ask me that. Anyway, it's my turn. Hiccup, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth."

"Ok, so when you're not studying, what exactly do you read?"

Hiccup shrugged. "Lots of mythology and fantasy," he replied. "Stories about dragons and Vikings and stuff."

"Cool," MK responded, causing Hiccup to look up in surprise. "I mean, it's a geeky sort of cool," she continued. "But still cool."

Hiccup smiled for what seemed to MK like the first time ever. "Thanks," he mumbled. "Ok, Once-ler, Truth or Dare?"

Once-ler smirked. "Dare."

Hiccup frowned. "I dare you to..." he paused for a moment and shrugged simply. "...kiss the person next to you."

There were a few awkward giggles from Anna and Rapunzel, and Once-ler frowned. "Seriously, Hiccup?" he asked. "How old are you, five?"

Hiccup just smirked back at him. "I don't see any smooching~"

"Not me," Jack declared, scooting away from Once-ler, who he happened to be sitting next to. Meanwhile Anna and Rapunzel just burst into laughter.

MK blushed in the realization that _she_ was the other person sitting next to Once-ler. "W-wait a minute..." She stammered.

But he was already scooting closer to her. "Sorry, MK," he apologized. "A dare's a dare." MK was about to protest, but he cut her off. In one swift, smooth movement, Once-ler took her hand and planted a small kiss right above her knuckles, drawing a few "oooooh"s from some of the other girls.

Surprised, MK glanced down at her hand before slumping with relief. Meanwhile, Once-ler moved back to his original position and sat up straight. "There. I did it." he announced.

Hiccup gaped at him. "Wait, hold on! That doesn't count!"

"Yes it does. You told me to kiss her, but you didn't say where."

"On the cheek!"

"Too late now!" Once-ler grinned in triumph as the other kids burst into giggles once more. "Now, for my revenge," Once-ler continued, "I dare you to kiss Merida. Go."

"_What?_" Hiccup shouted. "No fair, you can't do that! You didn't even ask me-"

"_Kiss her._ On the cheek. Do it."

The others continued snickering. Anna was practically doubled over. MK also chuckled a little as Hiccup glanced desperately around him, finally sighing and leaning towards Merida.

"Do it an' I'll twist yer little lips right off yer face!" Merida snapped, though she was still grinning. Everyone laughed again, and Hiccup gave Once-ler a pleading look.

"All right, all right," Once-ler said as the laughter died down. "I'll let you go this time, Hiccup." Hiccup nodded gratefully and settled down, as Once-ler turned to Jack. "Jack, Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Jack chuckled.

"Is your staff a security blanket?"

"Oh, for God's sake!" Jack cried, throwing his arms up in the air. "No it's not! Will you let that one go already?"

"Uh, no."

This time, MK joined in the obnoxious laughter, and Emma was giggling like crazy. "Security blanket," she singsonged, teasing her older brother.

"It's not a security blanket," Jack told her. "Stop saying that."

All of a sudden, there was a knock on the door. Everyone stopped laughing, worried that they had upset Jack's mother. But instead, there was a masculine voice from outside the door. "I hear laughter..." It said. The door opened, and in walked a tall young man with groomed brown hair and a small goatee. MK didn't recognize him, but judging from the excited gasps that emerged from the room, she guessed that the others did. The young man stepped into the room and grinned. "You guys aren't having fun without me, are you?"

"Eugene!" Rapunzel squealed. She quickly ran up to him and gave him a big hug, nearly tripping over MK in the process. Eugene hugged her back, giving her a small kiss on the cheek.

"Hallelujah, everyone!" Jack cried while this was happening. "Eugene is alive!"

"But you said you weren't coming!" Rapunzel said, pulling away from him slightly.

Eugene shrugged. "Well I ended up finishing a little earlier than I expected, so I decided to surprise you." With this he turned and smiled at everyone else. "Long time no see, guys!"

"No kidding!" Once-ler piped up. "Where have you been lately, we thought you were dead!"

"No, but I'm stuck in college, so it's kinda the same thing. By the way, stand up, Once."

Once-ler frowned in confusion. "Why?"

"Just do it."

Once-ler did as he was told. As he stood, Eugene turned to Rapunzel and covered his eyes with his hand. "Ok, Rapunzel," he said. "Be honest with me...who's taller?"

MK burst out laughing with everyone else. Eugene was fairly tall, but Once-ler still towered over him by at least half a foot.

Rapunzel covered up her snickers with her hand. "Really, Eugene?" She giggled. "I think we established long ago that Oncie will forever be taller than you."

Eugene uncovered his eyes and glared up at Once-ler. "Oh, come on!" He exclaimed. "How are you still taller? You're two years younger than me, dammit!"

"It's ok, Eugene," Once-ler replied, patting his shoulder. "Rapunzel still loves you, even though you're short."

"I'm not short. You're the one who looks like a frikking lamppost. Sit down."

Once-ler sat, still grinning, and moved over a little to make room for Rapunzel and Eugene to sit. MK moved aside as well, and it was then that Eugene finally noticed her presence. "Oh hey! A new face!" he grinned.

"Oh sorry!" Rapunzel said. "I forgot to introduce you guys..."

"Don't worry about it," he held out a hand to MK and smiled. "Eugene Fitzherbert."

"Mary Katherine," MK responded, shaking his hand. "But you can call me MK."

"Nice," Eugene said, and turned his attention back to everyone else. "So, Truth or Dare, huh? Classic. Whose turn is it?"

"Mine," Jack answered. "It's my turn. Norma, Truth or Dare?"

"Dare," Norma replied.

A devious grin crossed Jack's face. "I dare you to go downstairs, open the fridge, find the can of whipped cream, bring it up here and spray it into your mouth."

Norma's face scrunched up into a frown. "Huh?"

Jack rolled his eyes. "Go downstairs, open the fridge-"

"Yeah, ok," Norma interrupted. "But what kind of dare is that?"

"Are you gonna do it or not?"

"Alright, fine..." Norma got up and lightly jogged out the door.

Jack snickered once she had left. "Oh, God, she fell for it!" He said. "This is gonna be great."

"Dude, what did you do?" Once-ler asked.

"Remember when I took a bathroom break?" said Jack. "It wasn't really a bathroom break. I was screwing around with the stuff in the fridge."

"You what?" Anna gasped.

"Yo, Jack," Eugene chimed in. "You're not gonna poison her or something, are you?"

"What? No!" Jack denied, looking hurt that Eugene would even suggest such a thing. "It's completely non-toxic."

"_What_ is completely non-toxic?!" Once-ler exclaimed.

Before Jack could answer, Norma walked into the room again, triumphantly holding the can of whipped cream in her hand. "I'm back," she declared.

Jack smirked. "Cool. Now spray it into your mouth. And fill your mouth up, don't leave any space."

Norma glanced suspiciously at Jack, but she removed the cover off the can and raised it to her mouth. There was a hushed silence across the room and several of them exchanged awkward glances as Norma raised the can up to her mouth. She started spraying the whipped cream into her mouth, when suddenly she stopped.

"Oh, wat da heww is dith?!" she shouted, her words obscured by the cream filling her mouth. Norma tossed the can aside while Jack handed her a plastic cup to spit in, laughing hysterically.

"Shaving cream," Jack replied cheekily, still laughing. "Don't worry, totally non-toxic."

"What the hell, Jack?!" Norma snapped. She spit several times into the cup Jack had given her, and headed out to the bathroom to rinse out her mouth. "What was that for?!"

"For the housewarming gift!" Jack called after her. "Thought I'd say thank you!"

"It wasn't _that_ bad, you jerk!"

Knowing that Norma was fine, the other kids in the room started laughing again. MK, Mavis and Eugene just looked around in confusion. "I have no idea what's going on," Eugene declared, voicing MK's thoughts.

Rapunzel giggled. "Norma pulled the old rubber-snakes-in-a-can trick on Jack earlier," she told him.

Eugene cringed. "Aw, no, you should never prank Jack. He'll get you back for sure."

"Ye should know, Eugene!" Merida teased. "Remember the time Jack put fake worms in yer-"

"_Don't,_" Eugene cautioned, eyeing Merida. "Don't mention that."

Merida just snickered. "You were screamin' like a wee lass."

"Shut up, Merida!"

Jack grinned and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly. "Well, I guess Norma's gonna skip her turn," he said simply. "Eugene, why don't you go?"

Eugene frowned at him. "Jack, I dare you to go and bang your head against the wall several times and say "I am a dummy," over and over."

MK and the others snickered at this. Jack started to protest, but got up and did as Eugene told him. "I am a dummy," he repeated as he lightly hit his own head on the wall. "I am a dummy."

Everyone choked on their laughs.

"Jack, for your information, I am recording this whole thing on my phone," Once-ler informed him. "I'm going to use it as blackmail material for sure."

"Ah, shut up," Jack snickered. "You wouldn't do that." He plopped himself down next to Once-ler just as Norma came back into the room.

"Guys," Norma began with a confused expression on her face. "There's like a Russian Santa Claus downstairs."

"What...?"

Before Norma could answer, a small boy who looked a lot like he could be the male version of Emma pushed past her and poked his head into the room. "Jack!" The boy exclaimed. "Uncle North is here!"

Jack's eyes widened. "Uncle North?" He repeated. "Wait, Jamie, are you sure?"

The boy, Jamie, nodded his head and ran off. "Yeah, it's him!" he said. "I heard him laughing!"

"Uncle North!" little Sophie squealed. She jumped out of MK's lap and tottered after Jamie. Emma followed suit.

Jack mumbled a few words under his breath and went after his younger siblings. Curious, the others got up and followed him down the stairs.

"Who's Uncle North?" MK asked.

"My uncle," Jack replied. "North."

"No durr, Jack," Mavis snickered, to which Jack just grinned sheepishly.

The group of teenagers reached the bottom of the stairs and MK's eyes widened when she saw the man in the living room. He really did look like Santa Claus. He was large with a round belly, had a long white beard and he was even passing out presents to the little kids in the room. Surprisingly, however, the man's arms were covered with tattoos, something she did not expect Santa Claus to have.

North looked up and beamed at the sight of his oldest nephew. "There he is!" he greeted with a thick Russian accent. He lumbered over to Jack and scooped the boy up in a tight, backbreaking hug. "Good to see you, Jack Frost!"

"It's good to see you too, Uncle North," Jack strained, struggling to breathe as he was squeezed in North's tight embrace.

The man finally put Jack down and started digging through his sack of gifts once more. "Don't worry, I have presents for you too," he said. "And all your friends." North stood up, holding several thin boxes in his hands, and grinned. "I hope you all like chocolate."

MK perked up and glanced over at Anna, who was practically bouncing with delight. Who didn't love chocolate?

"Here you go," North said as he started passing out the boxes. MK eagerly took hers with a small "thanks." She plopped down on a nearby sofa and started munching on her treats as she watched the others receive their presents. Jack sat down next to MK as North looked at him with slight disapproval.

"Jack, are you still carrying that staff?" his uncle asked. "How long are you going to keep that thing with you?"

"Security blanket~" Emma teased again, causing everyone but Jack to snicker.

"Shut up, Emma..." Jack said. "Dammit Once-ler, stop teaching weird crap to my sister."

"Oh yeah, just blame everything on the tall guy," Once-ler groaned jokingly, accepting his gift and sitting on another sofa. MK had to stifle a giggle to keep herself from choking on chocolate.

As the silly comments continued, a tired-looking woman with short brown hair, probably Jack's mother, stepped into the room and smiled. "It's so good, to have you back, North," she said. "The kids always love it when you come."

"Yes, the kids always love it when you bring them gifts," North replied as he gave Jack's mom a hug. "How are you doing, by the way?"

Jack's mom sighed. "Alright, I guess..."

The two adults talked some more before disappearing into another room. The living room quieted down a little, while everyone munched on their chocolates, but there was the occasional chatter once in a while. MK was quiet for a moment as well, and then turned to her side to look at Jack.

"So...if you don't mind me asking," the girl said. "Where's your dad?"

Jack's brow furrowed momentarily, but he shrugged and tossed a piece of chocolate in his mouth. "I don't know."

"...What?"

"He left five years ago," Jack responded simply. "After Sophie was born. Never saw him again." He paused a moment, swallowing his chocolate, and continued. "Then I started doing some of the dad duties around here, but Uncle North shows up every month or so to help out, so it's all good."

MK was taken a little aback. How could he say something like that so easily? "I-I'm sorry," she stammered. "I didn't mean to sound rude or anything."

"Don't worry about it," said Jack, thought he didn't look directly at her.

MK thought for a moment. A missing dad was probably not the same as a deceased mother, but maybe Jack knew how she felt. After all, a parent is a parent, right? "Jack..." she began quietly. "Do you miss him?"

"My dad?" Jack asked, turning to face her.

MK nodded.

Something flashed on Jack's blue eyes, but MK couldn't quite tell what it was. Sadness? Pain? Hatred? But it was gone in an instant and Jack nonchalantly went back to his snack.

"Nah," Jack finally responded. "He was an asshole."

"Oh...ok." MK leaned back in her seat, a little embarrassed, and ate in silence. Looks like she had been wrong, but she only hoped that she didn't make Jack feel upset.

Everyone else seemed to stop speaking at that moment as well, and there was an awkward silence, at least for MK, that covered the room. Rapunzel and Eugene were cuddled up on a love seat, Mavis was next to Jack, Merida was next to Mavis, Jack's siblings were on the floor, and Once-ler, Anna, Norma and Hiccup were sitting on the other side of the room.

Finally Eugene spoke. "Hey Once," he said. "Do you still sing?"

Once-ler nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"Sing something for us. I'm bored."

Once-ler frowned in response. "Do I look like your personal entertainer?" he snapped.

"Sure," replied Eugene with a grin.

Rapunzel gave her boyfriend a small shove, but then she turned to Once-ler with a wide smile on her face. "Come on, Oncie, sing something," she pleaded. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, sing a song!" cried Anna.

Once-ler leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "Nope. I don't feel like singing right now."

"Aww!" Anna pouted.

"Dude, you know you want to sing," Jack urged. "That's why you brought your guitar with you, right?" he nodded in the direction of a guitar case by the door which MK had not noticed before.

"Come on," said Mavis. "Let's bug him until he agrees. " She, Anna, and Rapunzel hopped out of their seats and ran over to Once-ler, staring at him with big, begging eyes. "Pleeeeease sing?"

"No,"

"Come on!"

"Nope."

"Pleeeeeeeeeeease?"

Once-ler rolled his eyes and finally gave in. "Fine! You win!" he stood up to get his guitar as the girls cheered. The boy pretended to be extremely annoyed, but MK spotted a small grin on his face as he sat down and started tuning his guitar. Mavis, Anna, and Rapunzel sat in a circle around him, and they were soon joined by Norma.

Jack snickered. "Look at him," he joked. "He's surrounded by girls."

"What a whore," Merida replied with a grin.

"Hey, Once!" Jack called, "Scoot over." He stood up and sat next to Once-ler as he tuned his guitar, and Eugene did the same.

"Oh look," said MK. "Now he's surrounded by girls _and_ guys."

"What a whore," Merida snickered.

Once-ler picked up a rubber ball and tossed it at Merida's head before turning back to the others. "What song?" He asked.

"Billionare!" Jack cried, and the others laughed encouragingly.

Once-ler rolled his eyes. "Again?"

"What? It suits you!"

"Alright, fine," Once-ler played a few chords on his guitar, and everyone started swaying to the music. Then he started to sing.

"_I wanna be a billionaire so very bad,_

_Wanna buy all the things I never had, yeah_

_I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine,_

_Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen_."

MK sat back and felt herself smile. He was really good. His voice had a rough edge to it, but at the same time it was really strong and nice to listen to. MK closed her eyes and tapped her feet to the beat.

"_Oh, every time I close my eyes,_

_I see my name in shining lights_

_A different city every night alright,_

_I swear, the world better be prepared_

_For when I'm a billionaire!_

_Oooh, Oooh.../i"_

The others who were sitting around him started harmonizing. MK wasn't much of a singer herself, so instead she snapped her fingers. She felt a little awkward at first, but then she noticed Merida and Hiccup doing the same.

"Yeh, I know," Merida told her. "I don' sing either. They always leave me an' Hiccup alone when they do these things."

The intimate gathering atmosphere started to dissolve down after that, and it wasn't long before Mavis' dad came to pick her up.

"Always the first to leave," Mavis complained as she zipped up her sweater and headed for the door. "I'll see you guys soon, ok?"

They saw her to the door and Hiccup, Merida and Norma followed her out. MK scanned the horizon for her dad's car. As expected, there was no sign of him. She only hoped he hadn't forgotten about her.

"Well, I'd better be leaving too," Eugene declared after a while. He turned to his girlfriend. "You want me to give you a ride home?"

Rapunzel smiled apologetically. "I'd love to, but I have to drive Anna home..."

"Ok," Eugene said, giving her a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll call you soon, ok?"

"Bye, Eugene!"

MK waved with the others as Eugene drove off, continually searching for any sign of her dad. She even tried calling his cell phone, but nobody answered. She wished she could hurry up and learn to drive so she wouldn't have to do this anymore.

"Sorry I have to make you wait, guys..." MK apologized to the remaining four other people.

"It's alright, MK," said Rapunzel with a smile. "We've been here way later before."

MK nodded at turned back toward the outside. After a few minutes it started to get quite chilly out, so she had to shut the door and look from the window instead.

It was rather silent in the living room now, making it even more awkward. Rapunzel was on her phone, Anna was stroking a sleepy Sophie's hair in her lap, Jack was in the bathroom (for real this time), and Once-ler was putting his guitar away in its case.

After a couple of seconds Once-ler hauled his guitar case over to the door and stood next to MK. "Any sign of him yet?"

MK shook her head and checked her phone for messages. Nothing. And her dad was almost an hour late.

"He'll show up," Once-ler reassured her. "Don't worry."

"Yeah, thanks," MK replied, smiling gratefully at him. "I liked your song, by the way. You have a nice voice."

Once-ler blushed a little at the compliment but smiled. "Thanks," he said. "But you know, you'd probably get sick of it after a while. Especially since they make me sing that song all the time."

"Really?" asked MK, just as Jack came back into the room.

"Hey, we just wanted to try out our harmonies ok?" Rapunzel piped up. "Besides, the song suits him."

"It does?" asked MK. "How?"

"When you start hearing him go on and on about that invention of his," Jack answered, "You'll understand. It's like the song was written for him."

MK snickered and turned back to Once-ler. "Invention?"

The taller boy shrugged sheepishly. "Yeah, it's not ready yet," he admitted. "But, when it is, I'm going to mass produce it and sell it to the world..." he suddenly got a dreamy, far off look in his eyes. "And I'll become rich and then I'll finally prove-" At that moment he suddenly became aware of what he was saying and cut himself off. "Well, you know what I mean."

MK blinked in surprise. She had not realized how serious he was about this.

"Yeah, I can just picture him in a bright flashy business suit," Jack chuckled, giving Once-ler a friendly pat on the shoulder. "And a top hat...and a monocle."

"A monocle?" Once-ler laughed.

"Yeah. And a cup of tea. It's perfect."

MK giggled.

Once-ler rolled his eyes with a grin and turned back to MK. "Of course, right now I'm working in an ice cream shop," he admitted with a shrug. "But hey, one step at a time, right?"

Before MK could respond, a honking noise came from outside. Hurrying to the window, the girl beamed with relief to see that her dad's car was, finally, pulling up in front of Jack's house.

"Oh, thank goodness," she sighed, turning back to the others. "My dad's here."

"Guess it's time to leave then," Rapunzel said. She stood up and put her phone away as Anna gently put Sophie on the couch. "Thanks for having us over, Jack."

"No problem. See you guys later."

The girls all said their goodbyes, climbed into their respective cars, and drove off. Once-ler and Jack stood in front of the door and watched them go, shivering a little from the cold.

"I guess I should be going too," Once-ler declared. "But well, I didn't bring a car." He shrugged. "I guess I'll have to walk."

Jack frowned as he watched his friend pick up his guitar case. "You're walking home? But it's freezing out. Why don't you just spend the night?"

Once-ler shook his head. "Can't. My aunt needs me back in the morning. Besides, your Uncle North is probably taking the guest room." As he spoke he opened the door and stepped out into the chilly night.

"Well, do you want a ride?" Jack called after him. "My mom can give you a ride..."

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? I mean, we can..."

Once-ler whirled around, a little annoyed, to face his best friend. "Jack, I told you: I don't need any help. I appreciate it, but I'm fine, ok?" No sooner had he said this, a cold breeze hit him and caused him to sneeze. But he remained unfazed, turning around and heading on his way once more. "I'm fine."

Jack's frown deepened. "How long are you going to be like that?"

Once-ler turned around again. "Be like what?" he asked innocently.

Jack was quiet for a moment, then started to shut the door. "Nothing, forget it. I'll see you later, Once."

"Ok...see ya."

Once-ler lightly turned on his heel and walked away. Jack watched him go and closed the door, but not before hearing his friend sneeze one more time, much louder this time.


	3. Episode 3: Boys and Girls and Miniskirts

Episode 3: Boys and Girls and Miniskirts

Rapunzel glanced down at the paper she held in her hands and sighed. College applications. The worst part of being a senior. It was almost the middle of the school year and she still had no idea where she wanted to apply.

Rapunzel closed her locker and walked down the hall to her first class, thinking about the matter some more. She really wanted to go to college with Eugene, but what if his school didn't have the majors she wanted? The dilemma had been killing her all year.

After a few seconds of walking, Rapunzel spotted the door to her first class and snapped out of her daze. It was no matter, she'd figure it out later. But before she could take a few steps toward the door, she felt a long wooden stick poke her in the back and stop her in her tracks.

"Morning, witch," a masculine voice chuckled behind her.

Rapunzel lightly glared at the boy behind her as she resumed her walk, a little slower than before. "Good morning Jack," she replied with amusement. "Strange that you should call me a witch, when you're the one who's carrying a broomstick."

Jack sped up until he was walking next to her. "What, this?" He asked, smirking up at his staff. "This is my witch hunting tool-it's made of the broomsticks of the witches I've killed in the past."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes and snickered, stopping to face him. "Well guess what, witch-hunter? I'm a neo-age witch, and we don't carry broomsticks. What will you do now?"

Jack smirked again and turned to face her. He looked like he was about to say something, when suddenly he staggered backwards with a bewildered look on his face. "W-what the hell..?"

Rapunzel frowned with confusion. "What?" she stared back at Jack's face, which was slowly turning red, and realized that he was looking at something behind her. Slowly, she turned to see Mavis standing at her locker, but something seemed really off about her.

For one thing, she was wearing a mini skirt.

Mirroring Jack's reaction, Rapunzel staggered backwards in shock. "W-what the hell...?! Mavis?"

Hearing her name, Mavis turned around and smiled at her two friends, oblivious to the shocked looks on their faces. "Oh, hey guys," she greeted.

Rapunzel blinked. "Um…hi, Mavis...you're wearing a skirt today..."

Mavis looked down at the black knee-length skirt she was wearing and shrugged. "Well, yeah," she said. "So?"

Rapunzel finally got over her surprise and regained her composure. (Jack, meanwhile, was slowly curling into a ball while grasping onto his staff) "It's just...different, that's all." the girl said. "I'm not used to seeing you in a skirt."

Mavis smiled sheepishly. "Oh, yeah...I'm just changing my style up a little bit, that's all."

"Really...?"

"Yeah. There's no other reason." Mavis gave them both a big grin as she turned to leave. "Anyway, I need to get to class. I'll see you guys later." And with that she took off, her red hoodie flapping behind her as the skirt brushed against her knees.

Rapunzel watched her friend go with slight concern. Turning to Jack, she noticed that he was still staring straight ahead, looking as if he had just seen a ghost. She grinned and nudged him. "Mavis in a miniskirt~" she singsonged, making him blush.

"What?" Jack retorted, snapping out of his daze. "She looks...weird."

He turned and stalked off and Rapunzel followed him. She laughed for a moment before the small frown returned to her face.

"...yeah, I'm with you. She does look weird."

* * *

Mavis tugged nervously at the side of her skirt and sighed with relief. She was glad that Rapunzel and Jack had bought it. If she told them the real reason she was wearing a skirt, they would probably freak out. The cloth felt strange against her bare skin and her legs were cold, but it was all worth it, right?

Mavis turned a corner and suddenly stopped. There he was, the boy she had been in love with for a few weeks now. The one who had suggested that she be "less goth" for him to like her. Mavis rubbed a hand against her skirt once more. Hopefully this would work. She took a deep breath and started walking over to him.

"Hi, Tony."

Tony turned around from his locker and smiled at her. "Oh, Mavis," he said. "You look nice today."

Mavis blushed. "Th-thanks," she said, "You said you didn't like goth girls, so I thought..." She trailed off for a moment and shrugged.

Tony's smile faded a little. "Oh, well, you didn't have to change for me...although..." he looked Mavis up and down slowly.

Mavis frowned. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing," said Tony, grinning nonchalantly at her face again. "It's just that it's still a _little_ goth. And kinda cover-uppy, you know?"

Mavis was surprised. She looked down at herself and noticed that everything she was wearing, except for the red hoodie, was completely black. No wonder she still seemed goth. "Oh..." She murmured. "I guess so..."

Tony shrugged. "I mean, you don't have to change if you don't want to," he said. "I'm just saying, you know." He ignored the upset look ok Mavis' face and slammed his locker. "Anyway, I have to go. Class starts in like two minutes. Later."

Mavis nodded solemnly as Tony walked past her, and resumed her own walk to her Science class. Shoot, it wasn't her fault that everything she owned was black. She just enjoyed dark clothing, that was all. But if she wanted to impress Tony, well, it looked like she had a bit of shopping to do.

Thoughtfully, Mavis glanced down at the knee-length skirt she was wearing. _And what the hell_, she thought. _Maybe a shorter skirt wouldn't do any harm either. But I can't let Dad see it..._

Mavis eventually got to her class and sat in her seat. The teacher wasn't there yet, so she took the opportunity to pull out her phone and start looking for stores that sold cute, girly clothes. But before she could get very far, a pair of pale hands slammed down on her desk, causing her to jump.

"What's wrong with this picture?" A feminine voice said loudly. Fearing that it was her teacher, Mavis quickly stuffed her phone in her pocket. When she looked up, however, she found herself staring into the big brown eyes of her friend Violet Parr.

"Vi," Mavis sighed. "You scared me."

"Who are you and what have you done with Mavy?" Violet asked, pointing a finger at her.

Mavis rolled her eyes. "Real funny, Vi. I'm just wearing a skirt, what's the big deal?"

Violet's boyfriend, Wilbur Robinson, suddenly showed up next to them and looked Mavis up and down. "Was it a dare?" he asked.

"No, Wilbur," Mavis replied. "It wasn't a dare."

"Oh, ok, let me guess. Umm...you ran out of clean clothes to wear?"

Violet suppressed a giggle and Mavis scrunched up her nose. "No, Wilbur, I'm not like you."

"Wow, hurtful," Wilbur smirked. "Ok, you got caught on a tree branch and it tore your leggings off. That's what happened, yes?"

Violet burst into laughter. Mavis just sighed. "I'm just changing my style up a little, ok? Now go sit down, Wilbur."

Wilbur grinned and walked backward to his seat. "Well, I don't believe you, but fine, I'll take it."

Mavis chuckled in spite of herself as Violet plopped down in the seat next to her. "Ok, out with it," the brown-eyed girl prodded. "It's about a boy, isn't it?"

Mavis' jaw dropped. "H-how did you..."

"Oh come on, Mavy, I'm a girl too," Violet chuckled. "You don't need to be embarrassed. Lots of girls do crazy things to impress boys."

Mavis relaxed a little and smiled sheepishly. "Did you do crazy things to impress Wilbur?"

"Nah, not Wilbur." Violet said with a wave of her hand. "He was always decent, never asked for much. And besides, he asked me out first."

Mavis giggled a little.

Violet laughed along with her, and then paused. "Look, Mavy," she said slowly. "You don't need to make yourself look sexy for a guy. If a boy likes you, he'll accept you as you are. You shouldn't do things if it makes you uncomfortable."

"But I'm not uncomfortable...I'm fine, really."

Violet shrugged. "Well ok, if you say so. But be careful, ok? It would suck if your guy turned out to be some kind of creep." She shuddered at the thought.

Mavis smiled gratefully, "Thanks, Vi. But he's not a creep. I'm sure of it."

"Well then, good luck," Violet smiled.

"Thanks."

* * *

_Elsa, you wanna go shopping after school today? I know this really cool new store that opened up near our apartment building._

Anna sat down at her lunch table and stared down at her phone screen. She gulped a little, and hit send. Hopefully Elsa would say yes.

Her sister's reply came a moment later. _Anna, you know that I have a lot of work to do after school. _

Anna bit her lip in frustration and quickly texted back. _Yeah but I thought we could hang out...remember when we used to go shopping together all the time? It was fun!__  
_  
_I don't have time for that anymore, Anna._

_You never have time for anything anymore.__Well, that's not my fault, is it?_

_But you work all the time! Isn't that, like, unhealthy?_

_Well, it's not like I have a choice! Now leave me alone, I need to get to class._

_Fine, whatever._ Anna shut off her phone and slammed it on the table. "Stupid Elsa," she complained.

Across from her, Rapunzel looked up from her lunch. "Is your sister cocooning herself again?" she asked quietly.

Anna nodded.

Before they could say more, MK and Merida arrived together to their table. MK sat down quietly, while Merida slammed her tray down on the table. "Did ye see 'er?" The Scottish girl shouted.

Anna frowned in confusion. "Who?"

"Mavis! She's wearin' a skirt! She's showin' 'er legs!"

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Oh, Merida, it's not such a big deal. She's just..." She paused. "Changing her style, that's all."

"Changin' yer style doesn't happen that quick," Merida argued. "Just yesterday she was dressed normally, and now all of a sudden she changes 'er style? I'm not buyin' it."

"Well, let's just wait until she gets here and ask her about it," Anna said calmly. "Look, there she is now, by the Sass Squad table."

Anna nodded toward the table a few feet away from them, where Mavis was talking to Once-ler as Jack ducked his head away from her.

"What's wrong with Jack?" Mavis was saying. "He's not talking to me. Hey Jaaaaack~" she gave Jack's shoulder a small nudge, but he flinched away from her.

Once-ler and the others, meanwhile, were just gawking at Mavis' skirt. "Uh, just leave him alone, Mavis," Once-ler said, looking up at her. "He's...having a bad day."

Mavis shrugged and turned to walk over to her friends' table. "Wow, you weren't kidding," Anna murmured. She had to admit Mavis did look cute, but something about her wearing a skirt just didn't seem right.

"Hey guys!" Mavis greeted as she took her usual spot between Rapunzel and Merida.

Anna smiled. "Hey Mavis," she said. "You look different today."

Mavis chuckled. "Yeah, everybody's making a huge deal about it just because I'm wearing a skirt. I mean, seriously? It's just a skirt!"

"Well, it is a little weird to see you wearing one..."

Mavis shrugged. "It's no big deal. Last night I just decided to switch it up and try something new. Speaking of which..." She lowered her voice and leaned slightly over the table. "Do you guys know of a store where I can go buy some cute stuff?"

The girls looked at each other in confusion. Merida was right. This was awful sudden.

"Well, I do know this new one that opened up," Anna told her cautiously. "I was going to go with Elsa today, but she's being a shut-in again."

"I'll go with you, Anna," Mavis said with a smile.

"Thanks, but I really just wanted to hang out with Elsa. I'll text you the address though."

Mavis smiled at her. While Anna picked up her phone and looked up the address, Merida gave Mavis a small shove.

"So, why the sudden change, lassie?" Merida inquired. "Did ye hit yer head or somethin' last night?"

"No, I just..." Mavis bit her lip, trying to find the right words. "I just...suddenly realized that everything I own is all dark and black, and well..."

"So, you don't like wearing black anymore?" MK asked.

"Um..."

"It's ok to like wearing black, Mavis," Anna interrupted. "It's just part of who you are,"

"It's not that I don't like it anymore, it's just...well, why the heck not, you know?" Mavis gave her friends a wide grin, and they smiled weakly at her.

"Well, I think it looks pretty cute," MK commented.

"Thanks, MK!" Mavis beamed. "See? She's not making a huge deal about it."

"Eh, it's alright, I s'pose," Merida gave in. "But I may take a while te get used to it."

At that moment Mavis received Anna's text and brightened. "It's ok," she said. "If you guys don't like this skirt, I won't wear it tomorrow."

* * *

The next morning, Mavis stood pressed in front of her locker as Anna and Rapunzel stared her down.

"Mavis, when you said you wouldn't be wearing the other skirt today," Rapunzel was saying, "I didn't realize that meant you'd be wearing _that_."

Mavis smiled innocently. "What?"

"_That,_" Rapunzel insisted, pointing at what Mavis was wearing. "That tiny, showy, provocative pink skirt."

"And is that sparkly lip gloss?" Anna piped up.

"I can't believe your dad let you wear that," Rapunzel continued

"Um, well, he didn't..." Mavis admitted. "Th-this morning I wore my regular clothes, and then when I got here I changed behind the school..."

Anna and Rapunzel looked shocked. "Why would you do that?"

"Look guys, I promise I'll explain later," Mavis slowly slid last them and started to walk away. "But I have to go now. Bye!" she quickly turned and ran off in the direction of her class, leaving her friends more confused than ever.

Mavis fast-walked around a corner, relieved, and as luck would have it, she ran right into Tony.

"Mavis!" the blond boy said in surprise. His eyes darted down to her legs and the slowly back up to her face. "You look...good..." he said slowly.

"Oh, thank you," Mavis replied with a blush, tucking some hair behind her ear. Before she could say anything else the bell rang and she had to leave. As she ran off, she glanced back at Tony and noticed a slightly dissatisfied look on his face.

Mavis frowned as she sat in her chair. Why had he looked like that?

Meanwhile Violet was staring at her short skirt in bewilderment. "Did he make you wear that?" she whispered.

"What? No!" Mavis replied. "It was my own decision."

But, apparently, it had not been enough. Tony still hasn't seemed impressed. It was time for Plan B.

After second period was over, Mavis went outside and snuck around to the back of the school. Kneeling down, she pulled out the crop top that she had been hiding in her backpack. She hadn't wanted to do this, but it was her last chance.

Checking to make sure nobody was watching, Mavis quickly took off her red hoodie and the light blue shirt she was wearing and replaced them with the gray crop top. Then she tossed the hoodie and shirt into her hiding place where she kept her other clothes. She had no room to put them in her backpack and besides, she didn't want a bunch of questions.

Mavis stood up and tugged nervously at the bottom of her top. She wasn't used to showing so much skin. It was getting a little uncomfortable, but she would put up with it...

_J-just one more try..._ she reassured herself. _If this doesn't work, then I'll give up._

Satisfied for now, Mavis quickly zipped up her backpack and dashed off to class.

* * *

If the weird stares she had gotten from her classmates weren't discomforting enough, the open-mouth gawks from her friends at the lunch table were enough to set Mavis off the edge.

"_Where_ did _that_ shirt come from?!" Anna asked first.

"Are ye sure there's nothing goin' on, lass?" Merida questioned.

Mavis sighed and sat down. "Ok, so...I didn't want to tell you this, but..." She bit her lip and lowered her voice before continuing. "There's this guy, and...I'm trying to get his attention."

The other girls stared back at her in surprise.

"Oh, Mavy, that's not how you attract a guy!" Anna told her. "You want him to be attracted to your personality, not your body."

"But he said he didn't like goth girls..."

"That don' mean you go dressin' like a circus clown!" Merida said.

"Merida!" Rapunzel scolded, giving her a whack.

"What, I'm serious!" Merida insisted. "Look at 'er! Next thing ye know she'll be bleachin' 'er hair an' comin' to school in 'er underpants!"

Mavis blushed. "It's not _that_ extreme," she told them. "This is my last-ditch effort. If this doesn't work I'm giving up."

"Mavis..."

"Trust me," she said. "This is the last thing I'll do. And besides..." Mavis turned to MK, somewhat desperately. "It looks cute, right?"

MK frowned. "Um, it was cute yesterday, but now..."

Mavis sighed. "Ok, ok, ok. Look, I know he goes to the quad after school for band practice...I'll just find him after school today and see what happens. If it doesn't work out, I'll just stop."

"Ok..." said Rapunzel, still not entirely satisfied. "But what if it does work out? Are you going to keep dressing like that?"

Mavis hesitated. "I...guess...so..." she said. "But maybe not the crop top. Or at least, a longer crop top."

The girls were silent, looking uncomfortably at each other as they ate their lunch.

After thinking for a moment Anna leaned over to her cousin and whispered, "Jack is going to lose it."

"Jack's already lost it," Rapunzel replied. "I've been watching him this whole time."

Anna turned around to where Jack was sitting with his friends, and noticed that he was ducking his head down, not talking to anyone, with his hood pulled over his head. The other three members of the Sass Squad were stealing occasional glances at their table and talking about who knows what.

Anna frowned and glanced back at Mavis. She leaned toward Rapunzel again. "I have an idea. Let's have a little stake out in the quad after school and check out this dude."

Rapunzel's eyes widened and she glanced over at Mavis, who was making idle chatter with MK and Merida. "Wait," Rapunzel whispered, "You want to spy on them?"

"Well, yeah." Anna replied. "For a good cause. Just to see what he's like. Come on, what do you say?"

Rapunzel hesitated, glanced once more at Mavis, then finally nodded. "Ok, but we'd better get out of there quick so Mavis doesn't notice us."

"Ok. Good." Anna pulled out her phone and sent Elsa a text, so that she could see it after class.

_Punzie and I are staying after school for a while for a project. She'll drive me home._

Anna grinned to herself. She suddenly felt like a real-life spy. Hopefully this would work out...

As she headed out of the cafeteria after lunch, Anna suddenly felt a cold hand on her shoulder. She jumped, but when she turned she realized it was just a pale-faced Jack.

Anna smiled sympathetically. "Hi, Jack."

"Hello," Jack practically whispered. "Um...can you explain...er, what's going on...with...Mavis."

"A boy," Anna deadpanned, to which Jack stiffened. "But she said she wouldn't be doing any more if it doesn't work."

Anna paused for a second. "Hey..." She whispered, leaning toward Jack. "Rapunzel and I are going to go spy on this guy in the quad after school today," she said. "You wanna join us?"

Jack perked up at this and leaned in to listen. "Wait, after school? But I take the bus home..."

"Rapunzel can drive you home."

A grin spread across Jack's face. "Sign me up."

* * *

"I just realized, why do we need to be hiding?" Rapunzel inquired as she, Anna, and Jack were huddled behind a tree, waiting for Mavis. "Why can't we just be here 'coincidentally' and then go with Mavis to meet the guy?"

Anna pouted. "That's no fun," she replied. "And besides, she might get uncomfortable talking to him if she knows we're around."

"It's better than spying."

"Shh!" Jack piped up suddenly. "Here she comes."

Anna and Rapuzel excitedly peeked out from behind the tree. They spotted Mavis, who was still dressed the same way as before, walking toward the large group of band students in the quad. As they watched, Mavis walked over to a handsome blond boy and tapped on his shoulder.

The boy turned around with a surprised but obviously pleased look on his face. He was talking to Mavis, but due to the large group of teenagers talking at once, it was impossible to hear what they were saying.

Jack frowned as he watched the boy's eyes move up and down Mavis' body. "Who is this loser?" he hissed. "I hate him already."

Rapunzel placed a comforting hand on Jack's shoulder. "Come on," she said. "Let's see if we can get a little closer."

The three of them weaved through the crowd if kids, keeping Mavis in sight, until they finally found a smaller tree to hide behind, where they could hear what the boy was saying.

"...guess I misjudged you," he said.

Mavis giggled. "No, not really. I've been trying to find a new look anyway."

Anna frowned. That was a lie.

"Ah, that's good, then. It's a real improvement." The boy continued. He inched a little closer to Mavis, a seductive grin plastered on his face. "You wanna hang out with me after school tomorrow? I know a nice spot we can go."

Mavis looked surprised. "Wait, alone?"

"Sure," the boy said, as he reached out to wrap an arm around Mavis' bare waist. "It'll be fun, what do you say?"

Before Mavis could answer a familiar male voice interrupted their conversation. "How about no?"

Anna jumped and glanced at the spot next to her where Jack had been. Panicked, she stepped out from behind the tree to see Jack confronting the boy, yelling some angry words at him, his staff raised as if he was about to hit him.

"Jack!" Anna cried. She and Rapunzel instinctively ran up and held Jack's arm back, but his hate-filled eyes did not leave the blond boy's face for a moment.

The boy gave Mavis a shocked look. "Who the heck is this guy?"

Mavis looked equally bewildered. "What...what are you guys doing here?"

Anna and Rapunzel exchanged a desperate glance. They had been caught.

"We're just here...coincidentally?" Anna offered, but Mavis didn't buy it.

"Were you guys _spying_ on me?"

"No!" Anna denied.

But Mavis clearly did not believe her. "Why would you guys _do _that?" She snapped, sounding a little hurt.

"Because we actually care about you, Mavis," Jack responded. "Not like this creep."

"Jack!"

"Jack, maybe we should just leave," Rapunzel said nervously.

"Hell no!" Jack shouted. "Not until I kick this loser's ass!"

At these words, Mavis, in a sudden burst of anger and stepped in front of him, fury dripping from her blue eyes. "Jack, this is none of your business!" she hissed, "Butt out!"

"But-!"

"_Butt. Out_."

Jack stood there fuming for a second, but then he finally lowered his staff. "Fine," he growled. "Go get screwed over. See if I care."

And with that he stomped off toward the parking lot, leaving Anna and Rapunzel standing there stunned.

The blond boy suddenly cleared his throat. "We're going out to the field for practice now," he told Mavis. "I'll see you later."

Mavis stared longingly after him as he left and didn't look at her two friends.

"Mavis..." Anna began.

Mavis held up her hand and cut her off. "I'll see you guys tomorrow," was all she said, and then she walked off in the other direction.

Anna stared at the ground, dejected. Her plan had completely and utterly failed. But she couldn't really blame Jack. After all, he was just trying to be protective.

Rapunzel placed a hand on Anna's shoulder. "Come on, Anna...Jack's probably waiting in the parking lot."

Anna nodded and solemnly followed her cousin out to her car, where sure enough, Jack was standing with his head down, hood over his head again.

The three of them got into the car, with Anna sitting next to Jack in the back seat. "Are you ok?" She asked him quietly.

Jack just grunted in response, and they were silent for the rest of the drive.

* * *

Mavis fixed up her hair and dumped her old clothes into the bush where her usual hiding spot was. She was wearing the same pink skirt as the day before, with a dark blue crop top that was a little longer than the one she wore yesterday.

Mavis dashed into the school building just as the first bell rang. Tony was standing by his locker, as usual, and smiled when he saw Mavis.

"Hi," Mavis greeted as she walked over to him. "Listen, I want to apologize about what happened yesterday. My friends are just a little...overprotective that's all."

Tony nodded. "That's fine. Can you still hang out after school?"

"Sure."

"Cool. See you then." He lingered there for a moment longer before heading off to his own class.

Mavis watched him go with a small grin on her face. She started giddily off to her Science class, when suddenly he felt someone grab her arm and pull her violently aside.

"Hey-!" Mavis quickly pulled back. She was about to give the attacker a punch, but then she realized that it was Violet.

"Sorry," her friend said. "But seriously, were you just talking to Tony _Rydinger?!_"

"Uh, yeah," said Mavis. "Why?"

Violet looked horrified, then she grabbed Mavis' hand and led her even further away from the lockers. "Ok, tell me the truth, Mavis...is Tony the guy you've been trying to impress?"

Mavis nodded hesitantly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Violet whispered. "Mavis, you do _not_ want to fall in love with Tony. He's a _creep_."

Mavis was shocked. "Wh-what?"

Violet nodded vigorously. "Yeah, it's true. I used to like him once. Trust me, you should stay far away from him, ok?"

Mavis shook her head in denial. "No way, Vi, that can't be true. He's really a nice guy."

"Really?" Violet said, raising an eyebrow. "Then how come he didn't pay any attention to you until you started dressing like that?"

Mavis hesitated and stared down at herself.

"Don't you find it a little suspicious," Violet continued, "A conservative person like you who generally wears dark clothes talks to Tony Rydinger...and bam! You're suddenly wearing an itty bitty skirt and a crop top." she paused and gave her a look that said _isn't it obvious?_

"Vi...I just...I decided to wear these clothes myself."

"Because of him, right?"

"Well, sure, but it's not like he told me to-"

"But it's because of him, right?"

Mavis bit her lip.

Violet paused. "Look, Mavy. I'm telling you this as a friend. I know Tony, and I know he can't be trusted. So please, for me..." she touched her friend's hand gently. "Stay away from him. Or, at least, be more careful around him, ok?"

Mavis sighed. "Ok..."

Violet smiled with relief. "Good. Now, let's get to class before we're late."

Mavis snickered as they walked together. "Yeah, we don't want to keep Wilbur waiting."

Violet laughed.

* * *

Mavis sat picking at her food, the cold air hitting her bare stomach, as Anna apologized profusely about what had happened the day before.

"...We didn't mean to seem like we were meddling, we were just worried, and then things got out of hand and I don't even know what happened with Jack but please don't be mad we were just-"

Mavis chuckled weakly, cutting off Anna's rambling. "Anna, it's ok," she turned and smiled at Rapunzel as well. "I get it. I'm not mad."

Anna and Rapunzel sighed with relief, and Mavis paused. "And..." The black-haired girl continued. "Tell Jack I'm not mad at him either."

Anna nodded.

They were quiet for a while, as Merida and MK eventually arrived, not knowing what else to talk about. Merida sat down next to Mavis and playfully flipped up the bottom of her crop top. Mavis nervously scooted away from her.

After a moment's hesitation, she spoke. "Hey guys...do you think I'm overdoing it?"

Anna looked up, her mouth full of food. "Overdoing what?"

"This," Mavis gestured toward herself. "The clothes thing."

"Aye," Merida deadpanned. "Ye don' need to dress like that. It gives folks the wrong idea."

"Mavis, if you want to dress that way, it's fine," said Rapunzel. "But if you're just doing it to impress a guy, well..."

Mavis nodded solemnly. "So, you think I should just forget about him?"

"Definitely," said Merida. "I think this lad is askin' fer too much. He's practically making ye change yer whole self before he gives ye any attention. An' I don' like it."

The others nodded in agreement.

Mavis sighed and looked down at her lunch. "Ok. I'll talk to him. Maybe we can work this out."

"You're meeting him after school today, right?" said Rapunzel. "You want us to come with you?"

"No, I'll be ok," said Mavis. "I want to do this myself." She paused. "And, actually...I think I'll go see him now. I want to get this out of the way as soon as possible."

With that, she stood up, leaving her lunch tray, and headed out to the halls.

* * *

Tony was standing leaning against a wall when Mavis found him. There was still plenty of lunch time left, but hopefully this discussion wouldn't take too long.

Mavis took a breath, tugged at her top and walked over to him. "Hey Tony."

He looked up. "Hey Mavis, what are you doing here? We're not supposed to meet until after school..."

"Yeah, I know. But there's something I need to talk to you about first." She paused, making a few grasping gestures with her hands, unsure of how to start. "Tony, um...I'm not really comfortable with this."

Tony looked confused. "With what?"

"This," she gestured to herself. "This stuff you made me wear. I mean, you didn't _make_ me wear it, but...you don't seem to be interested unless I am."

Tony simply shrugged at her. "Well, I just like it, that's all. It makes you look good."

"But I don't like it. And it don't like it when you make me feel like I have to wear it. So, if you don't mind, I'm going to dress the way I want." She crossed her arms in defiance. "And, well, you're just gonna have to live with it."

Tony looked shocked. He hasn't been expecting this. "B-but...you look better this way. It's so much better than that weird goth stuff you were wearing before."

Mavis frowned, suddenly feeling frustrated. "What's wrong with the weird goth stuff I was wearing before?"

Tony seemed to sense her anger and stood up straight to face her. "I don't like goth," he deadpanned.

Mavis felt the anger rise up within her more, as it finally began to dawn on her, "Well..._I'm_ goth," she spat. "It's who I am."

"Then I guess I'm not going to like you very much." Tony retorted without missing a beat.

"You...you didn't like me even when I wasn't dressed like a goth," Mavis observed slowly, narrowing her eyes at him. "A-All you want is a stupid loose girl in a showy skirt, isn't that right?"

Tony said nothing.

"Isn't that right?" Mavis practically shouted.

Tony just shrugged. "It was your choice, Mavis, not mine. I told you what I wanted, and you decided to give it to me. So don't go blaming me about it."

Mavis was fuming. Violet had been right.

"You know what?" She yelled. "Fine, then. I didn't even know why I wanted to impress you, you pervert. I'm out of here."

Mavis didn't pay attention to his grumbles of disappointment as she trudged defiantly out to the back of the school. She was suddenly aware now of all the strange stares she was getting from everyone around her, and she walked faster. She had to get out of these clothes as fast as she could.

Mavis turned behind the corner of the school where she had been changing for the past few days. Kneeling down, she parted the branches of the bush...but there was nothing there.

Mavis was shocked. No, why did this have to happen today? She had been hiding her clothes here for three days without any problem!

Mavis frantically searched some more. But it was no use. Someone had taken them, and who knows where they were now.

A breeze blew her small skirt upwards, causing her to jump. _Great,_ she thought. _Am I gonna have to wear these stupid clothes all day?_

Her stomach growled loudly and Mavis realized that she still hasn't eaten lunch. Sighing in defeat, she slowly got up, the breezes still blowing at her and revealing more of her legs.

It was insanely uncomfortable.

As she walked through the halls, Mavis noticed that people just wouldn't stop _staring._ Had they been doing this for the past few days? Why hadn't she noticed?

Her heart pounding with discomfort, Mavis turned into the cafeteria...only to be met with more creepy stares. She couldn't take it anymore.

As if her legs were moving on their own, Mavis suddenly found herself running into the girls bathroom and locking herself in a stall. Huddling on top of the toilet she attempted to calm herself down.

How could she have been so stupid? Why had she fooled herself like this? She had spent all this money on clothes just to impress a guy who turned out to be a pervert. And now she had to wear these uncomfortable clothes for the rest of the day.

Her stomach growled again, but Mavis didn't move. She didn't feel like going into that overcrowded cafeteria again.

She continued to just sit there for what felt like an eternity, when all of a sudden she heard someone softly call her name. "Mavis...?"

Mavis sighed. "Hi Rapunzel."

"What happened?" Asked another voice, which Mavis recognized as MK's. Her whole group of friends must have been standing outside that stall.

"I don't want to talk about it," she replied. Nobody said anything for a moment.

Mavis sighed loudly. "S-someone took my other clothes," she mumbled. "The ones I was hiding. And now I'm stuck with these. I-I..." Mavis paused and took a breath. "I don't like this. Everyone's staring. I feel so exposed..."

"Mavis, it's ok," Rapunzel said softly. "I have an extra jacket and a pair of leggings you can borrow. Do you want them?"

Mavis nodded, even though they couldn't see her. "Yes. Can you bring them here please?"

Rapunzel quickly jogged out of the bathroom while the others stayed behind.

Anna softly knocked on the door. "Did something happen with that boy?" she asked gently.

"Whatever. Don't talk about him again."

"It's ok, Mavis, it's just one guy. You'll find someone else who is better for you."

Mavis said nothing.

"...can you open the door?"

Mavis slowly got up and obeyed, stepping solemnly out of the stall. The other girls surrounded her with more words of comfort as they waited for Rapunzel to get back.

She finally came bounding through the door, out of breath, with a bright pink hoodie and a pair of brown leggings, which were a little wrinkled from being stuffed in her locker.

"S-sorry about the pink," Rapunzel told her. "It's all I've got."

Mavis smiled weakly. "That's fine. It matches the skirt."

The others gave a sympathetic giggle as Mavis stepped back into the stall.

"How come ye always have random clothes with ye?" Merida asked jokingly.

"Well, you never know," Rapunzel replied simply.

Mavis came out, the sweater over her crop top and the leggings under her skirt. It still wasn't what she was used to wearing, but now she felt comfortable enough to go back into the cafeteria. The girls walked there together, talking and laughing, glad that the whole fiasco was over.

Then Anna stopped. "Aw, man!" She groaned. "Someone hijacked our table!"

Sure enough, a group of boys were sitting where the girls had been before. Anna looked ready to stomp over there and kick them out, but Rapunzel stopped her. "Let's just go hang out with the Sass Squad, ok?" she said, turning her cousin around.

As they got closer, Norma perked up when she saw them. "Hallelujah everyone!" The short girl called out. "Mavis is dressing normally again!"

The boys at her table turned around to face Mavis, each with a small look of relief crossing their faces.

"Hey, dudes!" Rapunzel greeted enthusiastically, adding extra emphasis on the corny-sounding _dudes_. "We're here to 'invade' your table. Scoot over."

With a few chuckles, the others made room for them to sit, and Mavis suddenly found herself squished up right next to Jack. The two of them sat there in an awkward silence while everyone else resumed their conversations.

Finally, Jack cleared his throat. "M-Mavis...look, I..."

"It's ok, Jack," she said softly. "You were right about him anyway." She took a small bite of her food as Jack stared at her in bewilderment.

Mavis didn't look up. "From now on," she declared, "I'm going to find a guy who likes me for me, not for anything I'm wearing."

"Good," said Jack. "And in the meantime..." He paused, and lowered his voice. "In the meantime you've got us," he said. "Your friends. We here...we like you just the way you are."

Mavis smiled at him. "Since when are you so cheesy?" She asked jokingly.

"Hey, excuse me for trying to be nice!" he grinned as he gave her a playful poke.

Mavis giggled. "Yeah, I know. And you're right Jack…You're right."

* * *

"So...my dad found out why I came home with different clothes yesterday, and now I'm grounded for like ten years."

The girls all laughed as Mavis, who was finally back to her original black clothing, told her story the next day.

The black-haired girl shrugged and laughed along with them. "I don't really care, though. I've already learned my lesson. No more trying to change myself just for a guy."

"Good for ye, Mavis," Merida said approvingly. "Boys are never worth it. They think they can command girls around and make them do whatever they want them to. Don't ever let them believe that."

"Nope," Mavis agreed. "Never again."

"And just think," Anna began dreamily. "One day someone will come along who loves you just as you are, and you won't have to change. It'll happen. You'll see."

"Thanks, Anna," Mavis replied. "But I don't know if I'll be paying attention to guys for a really long time."

Anna looked disappointed for a moment but shrugged. "You never know," she told her. "That guy might be right under your nose."

"Sure," Mavis said sarcastically, taking a bite of her lunch.

Anna just watched her with an amused shake of her head.

She would see soon enough.

* * *

**A/N: Well, look at that, it looks like my episodes are getting a little shorter each time...idk how to feel about that. XD**

**So...I'm going to be totally honest with you guys: I don't really like this episode. In fact, I was considering scrapping it altogether, but I liked the character arc it set up, plus I got a chance to add in some new characters, so I ended up keeping it. I hope you guys like it anyway, and don't worry: Episode 4 should be up in a couple days to balance out the crappiness of this one. **

**I had a tough time deciding who the boy would be in this episode...I didn't want to villainize Johnny, so I just chose some obscure dude from The Incredibles. XD It gave me an excuse to introduce Violet to the story too, so it's all good.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked, please review, and I'll see you guys in a couple days! :D**


	4. Episode 4: Family Issues

Episode 4: Family Issues

MK sat on the cold bench after school, waiting for her dad. She was used to him being late, but today he was really pushing it. She constantly checked her phone for messages, but to no avail.

MK checked the time. 4:40. School had gotten out nearly an hour and a half ago. And her dad still wasn't here. MK grumbled a few words under her breath. He had better have a good excuse for this. Hopefully he wasn't in danger or anything...

After a couple of seconds her phone buzzed. MK pulled it out and found a text from her dad.

_MK, I'm sorry, but I got caught up in work today and I won't be able to pick you up. Can one of your friends give you a ride home?__  
_  
MK just gaped at the screen. Seriously? After over an hour of waiting, this is what he had to say?

_Dad, are you serious? Schools been out for like two hours! Everyone's already gone home_

Her dad replied a minute later. _I'm so sorry sweetie but I can't leave this job. Maybe you can take the bus home or find one of your friends.__And what if I can't?__  
_  
No answer.

_Dad? Hello? I'm still talking to you!_Nothing.

MK cursed under her breath and sat there stunned for another moment or two, wondering how the heck she was going to get home now. It was way too far to walk, and she had no money for a bus fare. Maybe one of her friends was still at school?

It seemed highly unlikely, but it was really her last chance. MK pulled out her phone and clicked on Anna's name, since it was her first contact.

The phone rung for a while before Anna picked up, out of breath. "Hello? MK?"

"Hey Anna, are you still at school?"

"Uh...yeah. But I can't talk right now, I'm in the middle of soccer tryouts, and-"

"Oh, sorry...I just...I need a ride home..."

"Huh? Oh, sure! Just come hang out in the stadium, we have like 20 minutes left-ack, the coach is calling! Gotta go!"

Anna hung up rather abruptly, but MK was relieved. At least she had someone she knew to help her. Anna wouldn't leave her alone.

It took MK a moment to find the stadium where the football game had been last Friday. She sat in the bleachers and spotted Anna on the field, running around in a PE uniform with her hair up in a high ponytail. The girls waved at each other briefly before Anna went back to her tryouts.

The poor girl didn't do too well, always stumbling over the ball and even falling flat on her face at one point. MK felt bad for her, but Anna was able to quickly laugh it off in the locker room.

"I never cared too much about sports anyway," Anna giggled as she quickly braided her hair. "I just wanted to see how I would do. Oh well. So, what's up with you?"

"Oh, my dad blew me off," MK told her. "He said he had something to do at work and he couldn't pick me up."

"Must be important then."

"I guess, but he left me with no other alternative."

"Well, I'm sure my sister can drive you home. You live on Washington Drive, right? That's on the way to our apartment building."

The girls walked out of the locker rooms together, back out to the sidewalk where MK had been waiting before. A small blue car was parked alone by the curb, and Anna quickly walked over to it and opened the door.

"Elsa," she called, poking her head in, "A friend of mine needs a ride home. Can we drive her?"

MK heard a quiet feminine voice respond from inside the car, but she couldn't hear what she was saying.

"Washington Drive," Anna said. She lingered there for a moment longer, then turned to MK with a smile. "Ok, get in, we'll take you."

MK sighed with relief and climbed into the back seat. It was a little messy in the car, but she didn't mind. She was just glad to be able to get home.

"MK, meet my sister Elsa," Anna said as she climbed in next to her. "Elsa, this is MK."

Elsa started up the car and smiled politely at MK through the mirror with a soft "hello."

MK smiled back. Anna's sister was certainly beautiful, with her platinum blond hair, striking blue eyes and full red lips. But at the same time MK spotted fatigued bags under Elsa's eyes, and she briefly wondered what kind of life she led.

The car ride was relatively quiet. Anna did not talk with her sister much, and she seemed glad that MK was there to keep her company.

"So how's life?" Anna asked her nonchalantly.

MK shrugged. "Eh, nothing much going on. I do nothing at home, my entire life is literally you guys."

"Aw, I'm touched." Anna cooed, placing a hand over her heart. "Are we interesting or boring?"

"You're interesting enough," MK giggled. "Kinda crazy, but interesting."

Anna laughed. "Heh, yeah. Did I tell you about the spy mission that we went on the other day?"

"No, what was that about?"

Anna glanced at her sister and leaned in close to MK. "Well, a couple days ago, Rapunzel and Jack and I went out to spy on the dude Mavis was crushing on." She laughed nervously. "Yeah, it didn't end well."

"What happened?"

"Oh, don't get me started. Huge fight broke out, and Jack almost hit the guy upside the head with his staff."

MK's jaw dropped. "No way. Why didn't you invite me? I would have paid to see that go down."

Anna giggled. "Yeah, I guess it is kinda funny in retrospect. I'm just glad the whole thing is over." She glanced at her sister again and lowered her voice even more. "You wanna know why Jack was getting so flustered about the Mavis thing?"

"What, does he like her or something?"

Anna nodded enthusiastically. "Since last year. Isn't it so cute? I was there when it all started." The girl clasped her hands in a cheesy dramatic manner and stared dreamily off into space. "It was snowing, and they were riding down a hill in a sled...and then she knocked him headfirst into the snow and they both fell down. And then she accidentally elbowed him in the face. It was magical," she waved her arms in the air theatrically. "Sparks were flying."

MK stifled a laugh. "Wha-? Wow, that sounds very romantic."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Ok, so that didn't make much sense..."

"She elbowed him in the face," MK snickered. "Wow. True love. Wow."

Anna tried to look annoyed but smiled in spite of herself. "Ok, so it was a little ridiculous. But he wasn't the same after that. He likes her, I know it."

"Anna," Elsa called softly from the front. "You know it's not nice to gossip."

"I'm not gossiping," Anna giggled. "They're my friends."

"Anna..."

Anna's smile quickly faded and she looked at her feet. "...sorry," she mumbled.

It was awkwardly silent for a few minutes. Then Anna put a smile on her face once more and turned to MK. "So, what kind of work does your dad do, anyway? If you don't mind me asking."

MK shrugged. "I'm not sure, some kind of desk job I think. Nothing that would warrant him being over two hours late." She sighed. "I don't know, I don't know much about him. I only moved in with him like two weeks ago."

"Well...where's your mom?"

MK suddenly felt her throat tighten and she frowned at the floor of the car. "My mom is..." She swallowed. "I'd...rather not talk about it."

"Oh. Ok."

They couldn't find anything else to talk about for the rest of the ride. Eventually, they reached MK's house and Anna waved goodbye as Elsa quickly drove off.

The older girl quietly muttered something under her breath. "Anna, do you have the time?"

Anna pulled out her phone. "5:26," she said.

"Oh, crap!" Elsa shouted, stepping harder on the pedal. "I'm so late!"

Anna was confused. "Late for what?"

"For work."

"Work? What do you mean? You only work on weekends."

"No, no..." Elsa hesitated for a moment. "I'm late for my _other_ job."

"Wait, what?"

"I'm going to drop you off in front of the building," Elsa said hastily, not noticing her sister's startled tone. "I'll give you the keys to the apartment, just call me when you get inside."

"Elsa, hold on!" Anna said. "You never told me you got a second job!"

"It must have slipped my mind. I just-"

"But you can't work two jobs _and_ go to college! That's too much! I already have a job too, so why so you need another one?"

"Anna, enough."

"No! Why didn't you tell me?! You used to tell me everything! Now it's like you don't even know me!"

"I said _enough!_"

Anna shut her mouth. Elsa had never yelled so loudly before, especially not at her.

The older sister sighed. "Look, we need more money, and we can't just keep depending on Rapunzel's family to give it to us. That's why I got a second job."

"B-but Elsa..."

"That's enough, Anna. I'm done talking about this. Just let it go."

Anna leaned back in her seat, devastated. She felt as more time went by, Elsa would just drift farther and farther away.

"Let it go," she said. Anna scoffed. Her sister was working herself to death and barely talking to her, and she was supposed to just let it go? How did she expect that to happen?

Anna leaned over in her seat and let a few tears escape her eyes as they pulled up in front of the apartment building.

* * *

MK pounded a few times on the door of her old rickety house, before remembering that her dad was still at work. She reached out and jiggled the knob, and to her surprise, it opened right up.

MK gasped. "Are you kidding me?" she murmured. "He didn't even lock the house?"

The girl stepped inside and locked the door as fast as she could. What was her dad thinking? What if a burglar snuck in? They were lucky that hadn't happened yet. She'd have to yell at her dad when he got back.

MK scoffed at how backwards that sounded. A teenage girl scolding her father about forgetting to lock up the house. When was her dad going to grow up already?

"MK? Is that you?"

MK jumped. What the heck? Wasn't her dad still at work? Why was his voice coming from the study? MK cautiously walked over to see the professor sitting at his desk, waving at her.

"Dad?" She asked in surprise. "I thought you were at work."

"Oh yeah, well I just got back." he turned back to his desk to study something small on it.

MK just stared. "The...the door dad. You left the door unlocked."

Her dad nodded distractedly. "Yeah, so that you could come in."

"But...what if a thief found their way in, dad?"

"Eh...? Oh, don't worry. I can defend myself. And there's nothing around here to steal anyway."

MK opened her mouth to say more, but just gave up on the subject. "Right. So... what was the big job that came up? The one that left me waiting forever in front of the school?"

Her dad smiled at her sheepishly but stood up excitedly. "You won't believe it, MK. I saw them. They flew in front of my camera."

"What? Who flew in front of your camera?" MK looked past her dad at the screens, which showed nothing but empty tree branches.

"The Leafmen!" her dad shouted excitedly. "They were flying on hummingbirds! I saw them!"

"The...what?"

"The Leafmen! They were right there!"

"Leafmen," MK repeated flatly. "You mean those little people in the forest. We're calling them Leafmen now."

"Yeah!"

MK just let her backpack drop to the floor. "Are. You. Serious." she asked him, furious. "Are you telling me that you left me waiting in front of the school for _hours_ because you thought you saw _Leafmen_ flying on hummingbirds?!"

Her dad finally seemed to sense he anger and shrank back. "Well, MK...you have to catch these things in the moment, you can't just let them escape you."

"Dad!"

"A-and look, I even got one of their saddles!" He held out a hollowed out nut and held it to MK. "See?"

"I don't care!" MK snapped, throwing her hands up in the air. "I thought something bad happened at your actual _job_, not this! I can't believe you think this is more important than me!" She turned on her heel and stomped toward the stairs.

"MK, no!" her dad cried, trying to stop her. "It's not like that, I just-"

"Not like that?!" MK yelled. "Then why did you leave me for so long? I mean, you're willing to leave your own daughter _stranded_ in front of her school for who knows _how_ long, because you thought you saw a _Leafman!_" She made it to her room and pulled out a small wad of money from her piggy bank.

"MK, I didn't think I saw him, I actually did-"

"And what if Anna hadn't been there to take me home?" MK demanded. "I'd still be stuck there!"

"MK I'm...I'm so sorry, I didn't think it would take this long..."

She turned to glare at her father. "Would you have even bothered to come get me?!"

"Of course I would have!"

MK just stomped past him, ignoring his frantic cries. "I'm going out," she declared, heading back toward the door. "Don't wait up. And lock the dang door before we get robbed from right under your nose."

If her father was affected at all by her words, MK never found out, for she was out of the house before her dad could say one more word.

The girl sighed as she started walking aimlessly down the street. It was dinner time and her stomach was growling, but she didn't feel like eating.

Nothing seemed to be working out for her. She had come to live with her dad to ease the pain of he mother's death, but it didn't even seem to matter to him. Did he even remember his wife? Did he realize the reason MK was even here?

MK blinked back tears and pulled her hood over her head as she walked on downtown, and took out her phone for the time. 5:50. She still didn't feel like eating. The girl looked up absentmindedly at some stores next to her and noticed a few guys checking her out. She gave them a glare and walked faster until she found herself in front of an ice cream shop.

MK looked up at the sign and her mouth watered. What the heck. Some ice cream would probably calm her down. MK stepped inside and let the delicious smell of sugar flood her nose. She felt better already.

MK walked over to the counter and browsed through the different flavors. They all looked delicious and she wanted to get them all, but there was no way she could eat all of it.

Red Velvet, Chocolate and Vanilla. That sounded like a good combination. MK stepped forward and rung the little bell, waiting for someone to come out. She hasn't noticed how empty the store was. Probably because nobody else wanted to buy ice cream on a chilly autumn evening.

She waited for a moment, the sweet smells making her more impatient, until a familiar-looking teenage boy stepped out from behind the doors.

His eyes widened. "MK?"

MK smiled back in surprise. "Oncie! I didn't know you worked here."

"Well, I told you I worked in an ice cream shop, didn't I?" he said with a grin. "Anyway, what can I do for you?"

MK giggled. "Three scoops-red velvet, chocolate and vanilla-in a chocolate cone, please."

"Nice," Once-ler replied. He started putting her order together. "So...what brings you here on such a cold night?"

MK shrugged. "Well, ice cream cheers me up," she explained softly. "I just...my dad and I had...a disagreement."

Once-ler gave her a sympathetic smile. "Had a fight with your dad?"

She smiled sheepishly. "...Yeah, pretty much."

"That stinks," he replied, reaching out to scoop some red velvet ice cream. "What happened?"

"He left me waiting after school for like two hours because he..." She paused, wondering if she should reveal her dad's, er...delusional beliefs. "Well, for ridiculous reasons." She sighed. "Sometimes I wonder if he even cares about me."

"I'm sure he does," Once-ler replied, and then paused. "But I know how you feel. My mom used to to the same thing to me all the time."

"Really?"

"Yeah...but, that was a really long time ago," he chuckled a little. "Like two years. I can barely remember the last fight I had with my mom."

MK suddenly felt herself frown. "Oh." She said. "That's...good for you, then."

He didn't notice her change of tone and just smiled down at the floor, a pained smile on his face. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Anyway, here's your ice cream."

"Thanks," the girl murmured. She paid for her treat and left as quickly as she could, leaving a confused Once-ler behind.

Wonderful. Just great. She goes to vent to a friend for comfort, and all he could do was brag about how he hadn't fought with his mother for two years. _Good for you, Oncie_, she thought angrily, taking a few hasty licks of her ice cream. _Thanks for showing me how messed up my life is compared to yours.__  
_  
MK was getting a little cold, so she tossed the rest of her ice cream in the trash and headed back home.

The door was open again, but MK didn't care. She stomped up to her room, shut the door and threw herself down on her tiny bed. She felt like total crap.

After a moment, a she heard her father softly knock on her bedroom door. "...MK?" He called.

"Go away, dad."

"Oh. Ok."

Her dad didn't bother her for the rest of the night.

* * *

Brunch time rolled around the next day and MK was still in the worst of moods. She met up with her friends in front of Rapunzel's locker, and apparently, she wasn't the only one.

"Wow, all of you look so sullen today," Rapunzel noted. "What's going on?"

"Don't get me started!" Anna wailed. "My sister's being a big jerk! Again!"

"My dad is being a big jerk!" MK added.

"Me mum's being a big jerk!" Merida shouted.

A masculine voice suddenly joined them. "My boyfriend doesn't love me!" he mock-complained, mimicking their anguished cries.

Rapunzel and the others turned to see Jack's stupid smirking face, giggling a little despite their various bad moods.

"You have a boyfriend, Jack?" Mavis snickered.

"No, but I've got my eye on this guy," he jokingly pointed a thumb at Once-ler, who was standing next to him.

The taller boy gave him a disgusted look. "Jack no."

"You're so mean to me."

"Jack please."

"Why don't you love me?"

"Stop it."

Despite her annoyance with pretty much everything, MK couldn't help but giggle with the rest of the girls.

"You two are ridiculous," Anna said.

Jack shrugged. "Just trying to lighten up the mood," he said. "What are you guys getting so emotional about, anyway?"

"Me mum!" Merida piped up again. "She's breathin' down me gob! Again!"

Rapunzel sighed. "What is it this time, Merida?"

Merida gave an annoyed grunt. "Remember when I told ye about the Statewide Archery Tournament that was coming later this month?" she asked.

"Yeah, you've been talking about it for weeks."

Merida nodded. "Well, sign-ups just opened up yesterday, but me mum won't let me join!" She threw her hands up in the air. "Can ye believe it?! After I've been training ferever, she won't let me sign up because she thinks it's 'unladylike.' Seriously, mum?! Which century is she livin' in?!"

"That's awful," Anna sympathized. "What about your dad? What's he say about it?"

"He's alright with it, but...he's not around me as much as my mum. She's the one who's in charge of me mostly." Merida sighed loudly. "It's not fair, I hate my life!"

"At least you're not grounded," Mavis pouted. "I was fine with it until my dad decided to take away my phone privileges too. And my Internet."

"What?" said Anna. "I thought your grounding just meant staying home."

"It was, but...we had kind of an argument last night, and he made it more strict." Mavis scoffed. "As if he's not strict enough already."

"Man, you guys are really depressing, you know that?" Rapunzel suddenly piped up. "I was actually in a good mood this morning, but now it's ruined. Thanks a lot."

" 'Ere, take me negative vibes," Merida replied, waving the air in Rapunzel's direction. "I don't want 'em."

Rapunzel swatted Merida's hand away.

The red-head snickered. "Well, it's not our fault we all have life problems!"

"Not me," said Jack. "I'm free as a bird."

"Shut up, Jack."

The others laughed and Once-ler gave MK a nudge. "So what's up with you?" he asked while the rest of them went off into another conversation.

MK stared up at him and felt herself frown slightly, remembering the events of last night. "Nothing," she replied flatly. "Same."

"Aw, I'm real sorry about that."

"Oh don't worry about me," MK replied sourly. "You just be glad you don't have to face it anymore."

Once-ler frowned. "Huh?"

Before MK could answer, the bell rang to signal the end of brunch, and the group of friends quickly dispersed. MK didn't look at Once-ler's face as she whirled around and headed to third period.

But he followed her anyway. "MK, hold on. What are you talking about?"

She stopped with a huff and turned to face him. "Oh, nothing," she snapped, sounding a little ruder than she had intended. "It's just that you told me about how you haven't fought with your mom for two years and I just thought, wow, what a great life you must lead."

Jack, who was still lingering by the lockers, looked up at these words.

Once-ler looked confused. "What...?"

MK shrugged. "Hey look, I'm glad you and your mom get along so well, but when someone is complaining about a fight with their dad, that's not exactly what they want to hear."

Once-ler just stared back at her. "MK...I...that's not what..." He sighed and looked at the floor. "I'm sorry, I didn't know it would make you so upset."

"Well, now you know," MK snapped. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to class." With that she turned and stomped off, feeling oddly satisfied at the mortified look that crossed his face.

Jack ran over to his best friend. "Dude," he began, extremely confused. "What is going on?"

Once-ler didn't look at him. "Nothing," he mumbled, before stalking off in the other direction.

Jack frowned as he watched him leave. Then he jogged after MK. "MK, hold up!"

MK groaned a little as she waited up for Jack to join her. "What is it?" she asked in annoyance. "I don't want to be late."

"What happened exactly? What did he tell you?"

MK resumed walking. "Why does it matter to you?"

Jack walked next to her. "Just curious," he replied. "He never tells anyone about his mom. I'm like the only person who knows about it..."

MK turned to him, confused. "Knows about what?"

Jack hesitated. "Um, I don't know if I should be talking about this, but..." he leaned in to whisper. "Do you know why he hasn't fought with his mom for two years?"

"Why?"

"Because...he hasn't _spoken_ to her in two years."

MK stopped. "W-what...?"

"They had a huge fight when he got into high school, and I don't know the details, but he ended up moving in with his aunt and uncle," Jack continued, "and he's never seen his mom since then. But don't tell him I told you this, ok? He'd get pissed off if he knew I told."

MK was horrified. "That...that's terrible! Oh my gosh, I had no idea..."

"It's not your fault, he never likes to tell anyone about his problems." he frowned and shook his head a little. "He likes to pretend that he's all perfect and has no trouble in life, but really he's just as messed up as all of us." Jack looked up at MK once more. "But, seriously, don't tell anyone about it, ok?"

MK nodded. "I...I won't."

MK walked to class slowly, not really caring that the late bell rang on her, and plopped down in her seat.

_Friking crap_, she thought to herself. _I'm_ _horrible. I'm an idiot. What am I supposed to do now?_

Third period they were watching a movie, so MK had an excuse to pull her hood over her head and fall asleep for a while. At least, she would have fallen asleep if she hadn't been drowning in guilt and self-pity. _I'm an idiot_, she just kept thinking, _I'm a stupid, blind idiot_.

Fourth period wasn't any better. They were drawing self-portraits in Art class, but the last thing MK felt like drawing was her own stupid face. She absentmindedly glanced over at Audrey, who wasn't working on her project either. Instead, she was sketching her crush again.

MK's eyes lit up in recognition. It was the same drawing that she had been working on that first day. "Isn't that Once-ler?" she piped up suddenly. No wonder he had looked familiar when she first met him.

Audrey stared up in shock before covering up her sketch with the bigger paper and blushing. "Y-yeah..."

MK just let her head fall lightly on her desk. "It's ok, I won't tell," she reassured her.

Audrey nodded with relief. "Thanks," she momentarily inspected MK's face. "What's the matter? You look tired."

"Oh, it's just been a long couple of days," MK sighed, and paused. "Hey Audrey...have you ever been really pissed at someone, and then you can't like a total jerk to them only to regret it and hate yourself later?"

Audrey smiled sympathetically. "Yeah, it happens to everyone." she replied.

"Well, what do I do?"

"Just apologize," Audrey advised her gently. "If it's a friend, then I'm sure they'll forgive you."

"I don't know..." MK said. "He's seems like a pretty stubborn guy. It probably wouldn't work."

"You never know," Audrey shrugged. "I know, at first it never seems like it will work, but then after it's over, you realize that you were beating yourself up over nothing."

MK paused for a moment, mulling this over. "How...how do you know that?"

Audrey just laughed. "I've had stupid fights with friends too, MK. We've all been there, trust me."

MK nodded and was quiet for the rest of the period.

But even after class was over MK decided to hold off on following Audrey's sage advice. She avoided the Sass Squad's table completely and just speed-walked over to the girls' table. Setting her tray down, she wasted no time getting right into the topic.

"Guys, I have a problem," the girl announced. "How do I apologize to someone after treating them like total crap?"

"It's real easy, lass," Merida replied, her mouth stuffed full of food. "Just go up to 'em and say: so-and-so, I'm sorry fer treatin' ye like total crap."

Anna frowned. "Merida, it's not that simple," she replied. "These situations need sensitivity and care." she turned to MK. "We need to know who it was and what exactly happened."

Merida rolled her eyes and MK sighed. "Nothing," she said, "It's just that I had a fight with my dad, and I told him about it, and he said something that sounded like he was bragging about his family and I got pissed at him and said some things but then I found out that I completely misinterpreted and now I feel like dirt and I don't know what to do." she stopped and caught her breath.

"Wait," Mavis asked. "Who are we talking about exactly?"

"It's a guy, that's all I got," Merida said. "Guys are tough. I think ye should just be blunt, like I said."

"Merida, shh." Anna snapped. "MK...what kind of things did you say to him exactly?"

"I don't know, I was just...rude, that's all. He probably hates my guts now..."

"Is it someone we know?"

"Um...yeah."

Anna was silent. "Well...most of the guys we know are pretty nice. I think you should just apologize and hope for the best."

Merida threw her hands up in the air. "That's exactly what I've been sayin'!"

"Merida, stop, this is a dire situation!"

Rapunzel and Mavis laughed at them, but MK just pulled her hood over her head again and sighed. They seemed to notice this and stopped.

"Just wing it," Merida advised again. "And if he doesn't take it, well, it's his own problem."

MK looked at the floor.

Lunch time eventually came to an end, and MK found herself swept up in the crowd. As if on cue, a black-haired head in a fedora suddenly appeared above the crowd. MK sighed, pushed her way over to him, and tapped his shoulder. Time to get this overwith.

Once-ler turned around with a look of surprise. When he saw MK he frowned a little, but quickly covered it up. "Hi," he mumbled.

"Hey, look... " MK paused for a moment. "I'm...I'm sorry for treating you like total crap."

He blinked, seeming a little amused by this blunt apology, but after a moment he smiled. "It's fine," he said, looking down. "You were in a bad mood, and I guess what I said was pretty...misleading. Talking about these things has never been my strong suit...I'm sorry too."

MK smiled back with relief. Looks like Audrey and Merida had been right. She felt so much better now. "It's ok."

A soft silence hung between the two of them as thy searches for what to say next.

"Listen," Once-ler began slowly. "If you want some advice...whatever's happening between you and your dad...don't let it get to you. You even said yourself that it was all ridiculous...so just..." he stopped. "Just...don't let something ridiculous come between you two. Ok?"

MK smiled again. It was strange that she knew now where these words were coming from, but he was completely unaware of it. "Ok," she replied. "Thanks."

He shrugged and turned to leave. "No problem. See you later."

MK nodded as he left, and walked to her next class with a smile on her face.

After school she sat down on her usual waiting bench, and by some stroke of luck, her father arrived only five minutes later. MK bit her lip as she watched him pull up. He must have felt awfully guilty about what happened yesterday. As Once-ler's advice from earlier popped into her mind, MK silently climbed into the passenger seat.

They said nothing for a long time. But finally, her dad cleared his throat. "MK...?"

"Yeah?"

"...I'm sorry."

MK swallowed, though she wasn't sure why. "I'm sorry too," she replied quietly.

Nothing more was said.

* * *

"Earth to MK! Yoohoo!"

MK glanced up from he lunch at the sound of Anna's nagging and blinked. "S-sorry," she stammered. "What are we talking about?"

"Nothing," said Anna. "We were just observing how spaced out you are."

MK sighed but gave her friends a smile. "Yeah, sorry, I just...I don't know."

"That made no sense," Rapunzel giggled. "What's going on?"

MK shrugged. "Nothing, it's just...have you guys ever felt totally lost? Like, you think you've got total control over your life and you know everyone around you...and then you realize that nothing is working out the way you expected?"

"Oh, all the time, MK!" Rapunzel replied. "My life has been so topsy-turvy this past year..." She paused. "In fact, up until last year I pretty much had no idea who I was."

"...What?"

"That's when you found out about your real parents, huh?" Mavis asked softly.

Rapunzel nodded. Then, seeing MK's confused face, she grinned. "It's a great story, I'll tell it to you sometime. But what I'm saying is, you're not the only one with a messed up life. We're all pretty screwed up around here..."

"Yeah, and if you need someone to talk to about anything," Anna put in gently, "we're gonna won't judge you."

M hesitated at these words, took a bite out of her food, and looked up at the other girls. How strange. They were supposedly her friends, but she hardly knew anything about them, and they hardly knew anything about her.

MK sighed. "Well...my dad and I have been struggling to get along lately..." she gulped, and continued slowly. "I just moved in with him two weeks ago after..." she stopped again. "...after my...mom died..."

She knew they were all staring at her, but she continued. "Problem is, I'm not sure if he's even aware of that. He always puts his crazy hobbies before me, and well, I know he cares but...he's not very good at it, you know?"

MK was cut off when Anna wrapped her arms around her, and suddenly she noticed that there were tears in her own eyes.

"It's ok, don't worry," Anna practically whispered. "I know how you feel...I lost both of my parents...in a car accident three years ago..."

MK said nothing. Their table was deadly silent all of a sudden.

"...my mom died when I was a baby," Mavis said quietly. "It's just me and my dad...just like you, MK." she smiled. "And I think Hiccup is the same way too."

Anna let out a small sob, and MK quickly but gently pushed her away. "I-I'm sorry," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I didn't mean to make us all cry."

"No, it's ok," Rapunzel told her. "This is good. There's things that we all need to tell someone around here..."

MK nodded. Even though she was crying she had to admit, she did feel a little better...

The bell rang right then, but nobody at her table moved for a moment.

Rapunzel was the first to stand up with a smile. "Ok, come on guys," she said. "Let's not all cry and spend the day depressed. We're all ok, right? We're not perfect, but...we're alright. So let's be happy."

Anna sighed but smiled back, and MK did the same.

The friends quietly dispersed to their own separate classes. MK took a deep breath, held her head up high, and smiled. Rapunzel was right. She was pretty messed up, and there was no way things would be perfect anytime soon. But for now, she was alright.

She was alright.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, my episodes are getting shorter, but I guess that's...ok?**

**Anyway, just a couple of things before people start asking me about this...first of all, the stuff going on between MK and Oncie in this story is purely platonic, not romantic. I plan on keeping that way unless I am convinced otherwise.**

**Second: Do Leafmen exist in this universe? Honestly, I'm not sure. Considering that Tara is MK's art teacher, they might not, but who knows? XDD **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed, please review, and uh...let me know if you're bothered bytthe shorter episodes because...it's bothering me a little. OTL.**


	5. Episode 5: Rebels

**A/N: Hey, guys! Thank you all for you kind reviews. I'm really glad you're enjoying this story. ^^ anyway, sorry this took a while, but I promise it will be one of the funniest chapters so far. XD Enjoy! **

* * *

Episode 5: Rebels

The sun was shining, and it was unusually warm for an autumn afternoon. It was Saturday, and most people were out of the house enjoying themselves.

But not Hiccup. The quiet boy was locked up in his room, nose buried in a book. A soft breeze blew in from the window above him, bringing fresh air into the otherwise stuffy room. Behind Hiccup, in a large glass box, his large pet lizard Toothless lay on a rock, happily absorbing the warmth from the sun.

Hiccup quietly cursed as he stared at the paper before him. These math problems were impossible. He had a test on Monday and he still couldn't wrap his head around the stupid concepts that his stupid teacher had barely even talked about in class. If he got anything below a B on this test he would shoot himself.

...Ok, he wouldn't really shoot himself, but he'd be extremely upset nonetheless.

Hiccup sighed, put down his pencil and rubbed his eyes. This was ridiculous. Why did he put himself through this? When would be use differential calculus in real life anyway? The boy rubbed his head, took a breath to clear his aching brain, and tried to go back to work when-

"Woooooooohooooooo!"

Hiccup jumped, a little surprised by the sudden yelling. Standing up to look out the window, he spotted Merida, who lived right next door, in her backyard practicing her archery. Astrid was there as well, and they were being completely obnoxious.

Hiccup rolled his eyes and sat back down. But at that moment Merida must have made another bullseye, because she and Astrid started cheering again.

"Yeah, you go, Merida!" Astrid yelled. Her voice was ridiculously loud. "You take that stupid target down!"

"I'm not fightin' the target!" Merida yelled back. "But alright, I'll take it down!"

Hiccup groaned. "Shut up," he mumbled. "Trying to work here."

There were a few peaceful moments of silence, and Hiccup thought they were finally done, but then-"

"_YeeeeaaaAAAAAAHHHHHH!_"

Hiccup just wanted to throw his pencil across the room. They were doing it on purpose, he knew it. Merida liked to annoy him all the time.

But he wasn't going to let her succeed. So he calmly got up and closed the window, effectively muting out the noise. Hiccup sat back down and sighed with relief. It was stuffy in the room now, but at least he could work in peace.

The math problems were still confusing as ever, and Hiccup felt close to giving up. Then, after about ten minutes of studying, he heard the girls yelling again.

Apparently Astrid had pulled out a _megaphone_ and was shouting into it, acting like some kind of sports announcer. "Aaaaand Merida pulls back on the bowstring. She aims...fires...and oh! Another bullseye! Merida DunBroch is on fire today!"

Hiccup stood up again, annoyed, as Merida stood in her backyard, laughing. He could swear he saw her glancing up at his window, several times, with a smirk on her face.

"And the crowd goes wild!" Astrid continued. As if that wasn't enough, she decided to imitate the _cheering_, full volume, into her megaphone. Hiccup's eardrums rattled.

Behind him, Toothless looked up at the sound of the yelling...and decided to join in. The lizard opened his mouth and let out a sound from his mouth that sounded like a high pitched screaming.

Hiccup glared at him. "Seriously, Toothless?" he snapped.

Toothless just looked up at his owner with what looked like an innocent grin.

Astrid yelled again, and Hiccup tossed his pencil on his desk. "That's it!" he shouted. "I can't take this anymore! I'm going over there and telling them to shut up!"

He stomped toward his door just as Toothless joined in the chorus once more. His dad didn't seem to be around at the moment.

Hiccup knocked on Merida's door, and one of her little brothers opened up. "Excuse me," Hiccup said politely, "May I speak to Merida please?"

The young boy (Hiccup couldn't tell which one it was, since all three looked exactly the same) pointed out to the backyard. Hiccup thanked him and stomped out to the yard, where Astrid was still screaming away into the megaphone. Merida was yelling as well.

"Hey!" Hiccup shouted, trying to get their attention. "Hey! Can you listen to me please?!"

The girls laughed, and turned to face him. "Oh hey," Astrid said. "Look, it's that vaguely sexist nerd kid. Good to see you,"

"Hi, Hiccup!" Merida greeted with a huge grin. "Are ye here to watch me practice?"

Hiccup glared. "No," he deadpanned, trying to keep calm. "I'm here to ask for quiet. I'm trying to study, and you're obnoxious yelling is distracting me!"

Merida grabbed another arrow and prepared to fire again. "Ah, Hic, yer always studyin'! You should take a break." She fired, hitting her mark, and cheered again.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "I can't. I have a test on Monday."

"So study on Sunday," Astrid replied. "Or, is it like super hard for you or something?"

Hiccup hesitated. He knew she wasn't trying to make fun of him, but he didn't exactly want to admit that the math concepts were hard for him. "No, it's not hard..." he said."But...it takes a lot of practice, ok? So please, just-"

Merida fired another one and interrupted him with another round of cheers. Astrid joined in.

Hiccup huffed in frustration. "I don't see why archery practice requires so much yelling!" he snapped.

"It doesn't," Merida replied simply. "I'm just keeping my spirit up." Another arrow fired, more cheering.

"Well, can you keep your spirit up more quietly? Please?" Hiccup repeated, clearly annoyed. "Or at least without the megaphone?"

"Ok," Astrid replied. She tossed the megaphone by her side, and she and Merida went back to what they were doing.

"Thank you," Hiccup finally sighed. He walked out of her house and back to his own, but not before hearing the girls snicker one last time.

Hiccup stepped into his quiet room, where Toothless was sleeping soundly on his rock. Hiccup sat down with relief and went back to his studying.

The boy frowned. It still wasn't making any sense. He flipped back to look at some examples. "Ok," he mumbled to himself. "That makes sense, but I don't see how this applies to all the other prob-"

"Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay Merida! Oh, sorry Hiccup! Forgot you were still stidyiiiiing! I hope it's going weeeeeell!"

Hiccup glared down at the book in front of him.

"And Merida fires another one! Does it make it! Yeeeees it does! Oh, whoops! I did it again. Really sorry, Hicuuuuuupp!"

The pencil in his hand began to crack. "Dad!" he yelled, stomping out of his room once more. Toothless looked up lazily from his rock as his owner left the room.

"Dad, where are you?!" Hiccup called. "Dad!"

The sound of lumbering footsteps suddenly emerged from the kitchen. Hiccup turned to see his father, Stoick, walking out tiredly, looking like he had just woken up and seeming extremely grumpy.

"Hiccup..." the man said groggily. "What on earth is that racket?"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "It's that girl next door again." he groaned.

"Again? Seriously, Hiccup, what did you so to make her hate you so much?"

Hiccup gaped. "Nothing! She just likes to annoy me! And today she's got a friend helping her." he rolled his eyes again, exasperated. "I'm trying to study and they're distracting me! I've already gone over there to tell them to stop, but they won't listen!"

Stoick sighed loudly. "Seriously? ...Alright, I'll get dressed and we'll go over there..."

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," he said.

His father just grunted in response, but Hiccup didn't mind too much. He was just glad that he would finally get some peace and quiet-nobody could say no to his dad.

A minute later his dad came out again, dressed and looking refreshed, with a slight frown on his face. "Alright, let's go," Stoick told his son. "Let's get that lass to be quiet-she's not going to keep my son from studying."

Hiccup obediently followed his father out the door. As they walked over they could still hear Astrid shouting from the backyard, accompanied by the occasional cheer from Merida.

Stoick knocked on the door and the two of them stood by while Merida's mother came to get it. While they waited, they heard the woman's voice from the inside, sounding rather frustrated.

"Merida!" Her mother snapped from inside. "Will ye quit that yellin'! What is going on out here?!"

Hiccup couldn't hear Merida's answer, but her mother did not sound happy. "Well, _stop_ it! The neighbors are gonna call the police on us!"

A couple seconds later the door opened, revealing the exhausted-looking Elinor DunBroch, standing there with a forced smile on her face. "Good mornin'..." she greeted.

"Mornin' to you too, ma'am," Stoick replied with a polite nod. "Pardon the intrusion, but we couldn't help but get a little bothered by all the yellin' comin' from the yard. Is something the matter?"

Elinor sighed. "I'm so sorry-no, nothing is wrong...my daughter is just frolicking around with her friend-"

She was cut off by another round of cheering from the backyard.

"_Merida!_" Elinor angrily yelled out to the yard. "I said stop that racket right this instant!"

"Sorry, mum!" Merida called back, though it was accompanied by snickers.

Stoick cleared his throat. "Anyway," he continued. "My son is trying to study for a big test, and well, the girls are distracting him. And I'm not going to stand around while he fails just because he can't get some peace and quiet."

Elinor nodded hastily. "Of course, I understand," she said. "Please, come in, I'll bring Merida in so we can talk."

Hiccup and his dad stepped awkwardly into the house while Elinor hurried away to call her daughter. They stood a couple feet away from the door, waiting patiently, and Hiccup spotted two of Merida's brothers staring up at his curiously.

Hiccup blinked. He had no siblings of his own, so he was not sure how to treat them. So he just gave them a small wave. "H-hi, guys," he greeted quietly.

Apparently they took this as the green light, for at that moment they jumped onto Hiccup and sent him sprawling onto the floor.

"Ow! Hey!"

Hiccup tried to pull them off, but man, those kids were strong. To top it all off, the third brother showed up out of nowhere and started using his stomach as a trampoline.

"Ooomph! Ow! Cut it out!"

Just when it seemed hopeless, Hiccup's dad effortlessly lifted the three boys off of Hiccup and put them on the floor. He helped his son up with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Really, Hiccup," the man sighed. "You can't even fight off a few kids?"

"Th-they were jumping on my stomach!"

At that moment, Elinor strode elegantly in, followed by Merida and Astrid.

"But mum, it was just a joke!" Merida whined. "We were gonna shut up soon!"

"I don't care," Elinor replied. "You disturbed everyone around us with yer hollerin'. Now, apologize to this young lad."

Hiccup stared smugly at Merida, who was hesitating. "You heard her," he said. "Apologize."

Merida shot him a glare, but then simply rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'm sorry. I won't make any more noise."

Hiccup frowned slightly at her sarcastic tone, but decided that was good enough. "Thank you," he replied, before he and his father turned to leave.

As they were going, Elinor turned back to her daughter and took away the bow from her hand. "Alright, young lady. That's enough of that for today."

Merida gaped at her. "What?! That's not fair! I said I wouldn't yell anymore!"

Slightly curious, Hiccup turned around to watch. The others didn't notice him.

"Mrs. DunBroch," Astrid piped up. "Please don't take the bow away. It was my fault. I took out the bullhorn-"

"It's not about that anymore," Elinor cut in. "Merida, ye know I don't approve of the archery."

"Why not?!" Merida snapped. "Because it's not _girly_ enough for you?!"

Hiccup stopped by the door.

Elinor shot her daughter an icy glare. "Yes," she deadpanned. "Yer a young lady now, Merida, and ye have better things to do with yer life than to run around shootin' targets."

"But mum, it's my _passion!_ I'm practicing for the State Tournament and-"

"Merida, we've been over this. Yer not going to that tournament."

"Yes I am!" Merida spat. "Ye can't stop me!"

Her mother just turned and walked into her room. Merida chased her and stopped at the edge, still yelling.

"_Ye can't control me!_" the red-head shouted. "_Ye can't tell me who to be!_"

"Hiccup!"

Hiccup jumped at the sound of his dad's voice behind him. He hadn't realized that he had been lingering by the door for so long. "S-sorry!" he cried, not bothering to check if Merida or Astrid had seen him. "I'm coming..."

The hours dragged by and noon eventually came around. Hiccup was in his room again, thankful for the quiet at last. He was able to open his window again, and there was no noise except for the occasional _thwack_ of arrows hitting a target. Apparently Merida had convinced her mom to let her continue practicing-either that, or she had taken the bow from behind her mom's back.

Hiccup didn't really mind the soft noise-it was definitely better than obnoxious screaming. What was really bothering him was this _damned math homework._ He was so ready to scream "screw this" and just give up, but he couldn't do that.

But, well, maybe a break could do him some good. Hiccup stood up and stretched, and casually glanced out the window. Merida was alone in her yard, shooting arrow after arrow with a slightly annoyed expression on her face.

Hiccup simply shrugged and flopped himself down on his bed. Sighing, he took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Stupid school," he murmured. "I hate it." The boy lay there for a moment longer, then he got up and picked up Toothless out of his pen.

"Doesn't it suck, buddy?" he cooed to his pet. "I'm always so busy I don't have any time to play with you."

Toothless stared back at his owner blankly before proceeding to crawl onto his neck and arms. Hiccup did nothing to stop him. "Lucky lizard," he mumbled. "You don't have any pressure on you. You can just do whatever you want all day."

Another _thwack_ from outside caught his attention, and Hiccup walked over to the window again. He and Toothless watched for a few moments as Merida fired over and over at various targets, never missing the mark once.

Hiccup frowned. "Look at her," he said. "She's just like you, Toothless. Free spirit, always doing whatever she wants, nothing holding her back..."

All of a sudden Merida cursed, a little louder than he had seemingly intentioned, and quickly covered her mouth. Hiccup stopped talking, and then rolled his eyes. Typical Merida, always losing her temper for no reason.

But then she did something odd. Instead of immediately firing the arrow she had in her hand, Merida paused and rubbed her face with the back of her wrist. Hiccup stared. Was she..._crying?_ He had never seen Merida cry before.

Suddenly feeling attached to the window, Hiccup stood there and watched some more. She was obviously extremely upset, but that didn't stop her from getting a bullseye on every single shot. However, every now and then she would pause, and the anger on her face would change into a look of pure heartbreak.

"She's good..." Hiccup murmured. Frowning for a moment, he recalled the fight that he had witnessed between Merida and her mother earlier.

_Ye can't control me,_ Merida had screamed. _Ye can't tell me who to be!_

_How admirable_, Hiccup suddenly found himself thinking. _She actually stands up for herself. Not like me._ And yet...she looked so upset. She didn't seem like the kind of person who would get upset over something like that. Hiccup had always figured that she was the type if person who would say, "screw people" and just do whatever she wanted no matter what people said without feeling anything.

But this was different. Merida could have easily just registered for the State Archery Tournament without her mom knowing, but she acted as if she had no control over something like that.

_Ye can't tell me who to be._ Somehow, that struck a chord with him. He didn't know why, it just seemed...familiar somehow.

Maybe Merida wasn't as free as he thought.

Toothless crawled to the top of Hiccup's head, snapping him out of his thoughts, and settled down for another nap. Hiccup smirked and gave his lizard a small scratch on the head before picking him up and sighing. "...but I guess everybody has a cage of their own, huh, buddy?"

He walked over and placed Toothless back in his pen, before putting on his glasses. "I'd better get over there," he mumbled to himself. "She probably blames me since I went over there and complained...better talk to her before she punches me in the face at school." Hiccup shuddered at the thought as he walked out of his room. Of course, there was always the possibility that she'd punch him in the face _now,_ but...something still drove him forward.

"Hiccup!" his dad called from the kitchen. "Where are ye going? Done studyin' already?"

"Uh...no..." Hiccup replied. "I'm just taking a break, and going out for a walk, you know."

"Oh, ok," replied Stoick as he went back to reading the paper. "Don't be out long."

Hiccup nodded and marched outside. When he got to Merida's house, he knocked on the door for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

Her brothers opened. All three of them. They saw Hiccup and brightened, looking ready to pounce on him once more.

Hiccup gulped. "Hello, guys I...oh look! There's an extremely dangerous weapon over there!"

The little boys whipped their heads around with sudden interest, only to realize that there was nothing behind them. By that time, Hiccup had taken the opportunity to bolt past them and toward the backyard.

Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough. He had just barely made it out the door when the triplets tackled him to the ground once more. They did _not_ like being tricked.

One of them pulled his hair while the other two bounced on his back, causing Hiccup to squeal in pain like a little pig. In the background, he swore he could hear Merida laughing at him.

"Alright, that's enough," the red-head called. She walked over and shooed her little brothers off of Hiccup, much to his relief. "Wouldn't want to go to juvie on charges of manslaughter, would we?"

Her brothers grinned sheepishly at her, but surprisingly, they did as she said.

Hiccup got up slowly, wincing in pain. "Wha...what is wrong with them, exactly?"

Merida shrugged and went back to her archery practice. "Nothin', they're just bein' themselves." She smiled wryly at Hiccup. "Aren't they just adorable?"

"Oh yeah," Hiccup nodded sarcastically. "They're...precious angels, that's for sure."

If Merida had not been so upset, she might have laughed. But instead she just sighed and went back to what she was doing. "Alright, so why are ye here, anyway?" she asked suddenly. "Ye here to gloat?"

Hiccup frowned. "No..." he said softly. "I'm...here to apologize, actually...for earlier."

Merida looked confused. "What? What are you apologizing for? Ye got what ye wanted, didn't ye?"

Hiccup shifted uncomfortably in his place. "Yeah, I guess so...but, well, it's just..." Why the heck was he stuttering so much? "I saw what happened with you and your mom and..."

Merida rolled her eyes and didn't let him finish. "Oh, that. You saw that." She looked away and fired another one.

Hiccup looked down. "Y-yeah, I did."

There was a silence.

"Listen..." Hiccup heard himself say. "I know this is none of my business, but...why exactly _does_ your mom disapprove of your archery? I mean..." he paused. "You're really good."

Merida did not look at him, but he noticed a soft smile cross her face at the compliment. "I have no idea," she replied. "She just doesn't like me." Realizing what she had said, she quickly corrected herself. "I mean, she doesn't like the way I am. She wants me to be different."

Hiccup nodded, and said nothing more.

"Hey Hiccup," Merida started, still not looking at him. "Lemme ask ye something. Is it nice being a boy?"

Hiccup looked up startled. What kind of question was that? "What...what are you talking about?"

"Oh, you know..." Merida shrugged. "Yer not expected to look or act a certain way, ye get more opportunities, things like that."

Hiccup was shaking his head vigorously. "Uh, no. Not at all, not in my experience."

Merida raised an eyebrow at him. "Really? Ok. Well, if _you_ wanted to enter an archery tournament, would yer dad let you?"

Hiccup paused, pondering this for a moment. "Well...yeah, he probably would, but-"

"See, that's what I mean!" Merida interrupted, obviously getting upset again. "If my brothers want to run outside and get themselves dirty, me mum has no problem with it-boys will be boys, she says."

"Well-"

"But when _I_ try to do something sporty, suddenly it's the end of the world!" she fired another arrow.

"Um-"

"And look at Astrid! She had to fight her ass off to get on that football team, and people still make fun of 'er for it! How is that fair?!"

"Well, technically, there _are_ reasons for-"

"I'd say it's a miracle they let her join at all! And if a boy tries out, it's like-"

"It's like they look you up and down to see if you're a wimp or not, that's what it's like!" Hiccup interrupted.

Merida glared at him, but Hiccup continued, unfazed.

"You know," he rambled. "I actually think a physically fit girl has way a higher chance of getting on a football team than a wimpy guy-I know that from experience." He paused.

"Look...I get it. You're right. But you know," he gave a wry laugh. "If a guy dreams of being, say, a dancer, that doesn't exactly earn him pats on the back either. If I were to tell me dad that I want to be a fantasy author-er, not that I actually want to, I'm just making an example-but you know what he'd do, he'd flip! He'd go on and on about how I'm a disappointment...and, and how I can do better, and..."

He trailed off suddenly, noticing that Merida was staring at him with a bewildered look on her face.

"...and well," he continued. "It just sucks for me too, you know?"

Merida hesitated. "But..." she replied, her voice very quiet. "But yer a boy. I thought the world loved boys."

Hiccup laughed, but with no humor. "No, not really. The world hates everyone."

Merida smiled and plopped herself down on a nearby rock. "Aye. Tell me about it."

Hiccup sat down next to her and they both sighed, not saying anything for a little while.

"So..." Merida grinned, breaking the silence. "Fantasy author, huh?"

Hiccup felt himself flush with embarrassment. "Heh, me and my big mouth. But it's never going go happen. My dad thinks it's a waste of time."

Merida nodded. "Yeah? I can relate. My mum always wants me to be-" she paused and sat up straight with a mocking tone. "_-a perfect little princess."_

Hiccup snickered. "Same here! Except not the princess part."

Merida laughed.

"I remember at one point my dad wanted me to be all buff, like him," Hiccup continued. He held up his own scrawny arms and smirked. "Yeah. He gave up on that pretty quickly." He paused. "But, luckily for me, perfection comes in more than one form."

Merida looked at him curiously.

"I can't be strong and buff," said Hiccup, "so instead I choose to be smart. Not quite the same, but it satisfies my dad, so..." He shrugged.

"Yer kiddin'," Merida responded. "So that's why yer always studyin'?"

"Well...yeah. I guess so."

"But why do ye need to do that?" she demanded. "Ye already have straight A's!"

"Yeah, well it keeps me busy, I guess." he shrugged. "And it's a good way to make sure I don't slip up."

"Dang, ye must have some serious endurance skills to be able to do that," Merida told him, rolling her eyes. "I study for more than half an hour and I'm asleep."

Hiccup laughed. "You get used to it."

"Yeah? Maybe you could help me sometime. And then I could show you how to kick butt."

Hiccup snickered. "Yeah sure. Good luck with that." He waited there for a moment longer, then stood up. "Well, I should be getting back...that calculus homework isn't going to do itself."

Merida laughed. "Alright. See ya on Monday...and Hiccup?"

"Yeah?"

She smiled at him sheepishly. "Sorry fer annoyin' ye all the time."

Hiccup's face felt warm for no reason, but he ignored it. "It's,uh...it's no problem."

Not having anything else to say, the boy waved and returned home, feeling a little spaced out.

_What the heck happened just now_, he found himself thinking. _Rambling on like an idiot..._ He had never told anyone so much about himself anymore. But he had realized that he and Merida had so much in common that it all just kind of spilled out.

It was strange. When Hiccup thought of people who had something in common with him, Merida was the last person who would come to mind. They were just so..._different_.

But then again, maybe not. Everybody has their own cage, after all.

Hiccup quietly walked into his own room and went back to his studying, feeling strangely refreshed.

Strangely enough, he found himself understanding.

* * *

"_Moooooving along! Slowly but surely!__  
__I know it won't be looooong!_"

"Anna."

"_Just put on that song! And step to the beat!__  
__Why don't you sing alooooooong?"_

"Anna!" Rapunzel snapped, interrupting her cousin's singing. "If you're going to sing, can you at least be on key?"

Anna giggled as the two of them strolled across the parking lot to school that Monday morning. "Sorry," she replied. "Just trying to lighten the mood. School sucks."

Rapunzel nodded, and Anna went right back to singing.

"_Goin' to schooool_," she started, switching to a more depressing tone. "_Goin' to schooool_. _Another week of bein' down in the dumps.__Back to tests and grumpy teachers,__  
__Dumb jocks and freezing bleachers,__  
__Oh what I wouldn't give to be..._" she paused, looking for a rhyme.  
"No, no..._I'd rather be at home with the mumps!_ Yeah, that's it."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes, but grinned. "Anna, if you don't stop singing, I'm going to go walk with someone else."

"Fine then," Anna said, sticking her tongue out at her. "I'll just walk with..." she perked up, spotting a nearby friend."With Hiccup! Hey Hiccup!"

Hiccup was doing some last minute-studying on his way to school when Anna popped up and attached herself to his arm. He was so caught off guard that he almost toppled over.

"Ah...Hey, Anna."

"Hi, whatcha reading?" She looked over his shoulder at the book he was carrying.

"Studying. I have a math test in like three hours."

Anna cringed. "Oh, yuck. Good luck with that..."

Rapunzel walked over to them. "Hey, have you seen Merida today?" she asked curiously.

Hiccup looked at the ground and shrugged. "Uh, no. Not since like Saturday. Why?"

"Oh, she's been calling me and complaining all weekend. I just wanted to see if she was okay."

Anna perked up. "She's been calling me too! To complain about the archery thing, right?"

"Uh-huh." Rapunzel responded. "She's awfully upset about that, huh?"

"Y-yeah," Hiccup said. "I could hear her whining about it all weekend from my house..."

"It's not fair!" Anna shouted, stomping on the ground a little. "I think she should be able to join!"

"Me too," Rapunzel agreed.

Hiccup was quiet for a moment. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't quite find the words. "Well..." He said slowly. "Maybe...maybe we could do something."

Rapunzel and Anna whipped their heads around at him curiously, and he instantly regretted it. "Ah...n-never mind."

"No!" Anna pleaded, hugging his arm even more. "I wanna hear it, tell me, tell me!"

Hiccup sighed. "Well, I don't actually have anything in mind, just...well, we could somehow convince her mom to let her join the thing and...I don't know."

Anna finally let go of his arm and jumped up and down with glee. "That's a great idea!" she exclaimed. "We could, like...start a movement!"

Rapunzel smirked. "Another movement, Anna?"

"Yeah! Just think: we could march up to their front yard and start a protest, and we'd pass out flyers, and hang up posters, and-"

"And nobody would care," Hiccup deadpanned, to which Rapunzel giggled. "We could just go and talk to her mom, you know? Seems easier."

"That's good too," Rapunzel said.

Anna pouted. "Aw, but I wanna do a protest!"

"There's no point in a protest!" Hiccup practically shouted, throwing his arms up in the air.

Rapunzel laughed.

There was still time before the bell rang to start classes, so the three of them went to find their friends.

Hiccup and Anna were still arguing about the necessity of a protest when they eventually ran into Jack and Once-ler. Anna was grasping Hiccup's arm again while arguing with him, and Jack raised an eyebrow at them.

"Whoa, whoa," Jack teased. "Hiccup's pickin' up chicks, man. Didn't know you had it in you."

Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"Anna, I thought you had a boyfriend?"

"Jack!" Anna replied, sticking out her tongue. "We're just out on a friendly stroll!"

Jack laughed at them but let the subject drop, and the five friends continued to wander around.

"Hey guys," Anna began excitedly. "You wanna join our movement?"

"Ooh, another Anna Movement?" Once-ler smirked. "This should be good."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember the Cafeteria Movement?" Once-ler asked, and the others shuddered. "Now that was a movement that made history."

"The _salad_," Rapunzel added, cringing at the memory. "The salad had _flies_ in it."

Anna blushed at stared at the floor. "Ok, so...that movement was not one of my successful ones..."

Once-ler snickered again. "Yeah? Remember the Cell Phone Movement?"

Everyone laughed.

"This is different!" Anna shouted. "First of all, it's on a smaller scale-and, it wasn't even my idea! It was Hiccup's!" She gave him an affectionate pat on the shoulder, and he looked down in embarrassment.

"Whoa, this _is_ different," said Jack. "Hiccup usually doesn't care about anything."

"That is _not_ true," Hiccup retorted.

"Anyway," Anna continued. "This is the Merida Movement. You know how she's complaining about the Archery Tournament? Well, we're going to make sure she gets in!"

Jack and Once-ler looked at each other, and curiously at Hiccup.

Anna took no notice. "It'll be great, we'll have picket signs, and bullhorns, and we'll stand in front of her house, and-"

"Anna, for the last time!" Hiccup interrupted. "We're not gonna do a protest!"

"I wanna do a protest," Jack said simply.

"Ha!" Anna said, crossing her arms in triumph. "You're outvoted!"

Hiccup looked at the other two, exasperated. "Wh-what about you guys?"

"A protest sounds like fun," Rapunzel agreed, and Once-ler nodded.

Hiccup sighed. "Fine. We'll look like complete idiots, but fine."

"Yay!" Anna cheered. "I'm going to text the others, and we can do it next weekend!" She took out her phone and started to text her friends. "Rapunzel, can you paint the signs?"

"Sure," her cousin replied. "But maybe we should get together and do it instead."

"Even better!" Anna agreed. "And then we can get cool face paints and stuff...oh, we need someone to buy sticks for the signs. Can you boys do that?"

"Really?" Once-ler asked, grinning. "You're going to waste all our talent by making us collect sticks?"

"Come on, you want to join or not?"

"Alright, fine."

Anna was going to say more, but she was interrupted by the first bell. Around them, students began to disperse to their own separate classes.

"Ok, let's talk about it later," Anna declared as the friends started to split. "And don't tell Merida about this! Let's make it a surprise!"

The others agreed, and they all headed off to class, leaving Hiccup by himself to head to Science.

_Wow_, the boy thought to himself. _What...have I done?_

Lunch time rolled around that afternoon, and Anna was briefing MK, Mavis and Norma on their mission while they waited for Merida to arrive.

"So, Hic, you're the one who started this movement?" Norma asked him curiously, as the others continued chattering.

Hiccup shrugged. "Uh, not really...I just kinda suggested it and then Anna went all gaga about it."

"But why? I thought you and Merida hated each other."

"We don't hate each other, it's just that she likes to annoy me sometimes...every day." He looked down at his food. "Besides, nothing wrong with helping out a friend, right?"

Norma stared at him for a moment, before turning her attention back to the conversation next to her.  
Hiccup felt himself go warm again for no reason, and took a deep breath.

Hopefully this weekend wouldn't end in a disaster.

* * *

Anna clenched her fist excitedly around her picket sign and grinned at Hiccup as she stood on his doorstep with Rapunzel. "Are you ready?" she asked.

Rapunzel nodded happily, but Hiccup shook his head. "No. I'm telling you guys, this is ridiculous."

"Aw, come on, Hic." Rapunzel complained. "Have some fun."

"And how come you're not in uniform?" Anna pouted, looking him up and down.

Hiccup cringed as he looked at Anna and Rapunzel's "uniforms." They had black stripes painted under their eyes, a bright red bandana wrapped around each of their heads, and worst of all, a blue shirt with Merida's face photocopied onto it, surrounded by the words, "Movement Merida."

"Because I'll look stupid," Hiccup replied. "I don't want a giant picture of Merida's face on my shirt."

"But everyone else will be wearing them!"

"Do you really believe that, Anna?" Hiccup asked her. "I mean, just try to imagine someone like Once-ler wearing that shirt."

The image caused Rapunzel to burst into laughter, and Anna couldn't help but giggle as well. "Ok, you have a point there," the strawberry blond admitted. "But _you_ should be wearing it at least! You're the one who got this thing going, after all!"

"And I will regret it for the rest of my life."

Anna rolled her eyes, gave the sign to Rapunzel, and stomped into Hiccup's house. "That's it, Mister. Get inside, we're giving you a makeover."

"What?!" Hiccup tried to resist but Anna was already pushing him toward the living room. She was crazy strong for someone her size...or maybe Hiccup was just a wimp.

"Hey, stop pushing!" Hiccup shouted. "You can't make me out on that shirt!"

"Why don't you call his dad?" Rapunzel suggested with a giggle, following them. "Maybe he'll help us."

"Right, like my dad would ever help you guys do this," Hiccup scoffed. "And besides, he's not home right now."

"Then we'll just have to give you a makeover ourselves!" Anna declared, pushing him onto the couch. "Rapunzel, hold him down and paint his face while I look for the shirt!"

Rapunzel gave Hiccup an apologetic look but did as she was told. "Sorry, Hic," she said. "But you know there's no stopping Anna when she gets like this..."

"I could get you guys arrested for this," the boy growled.

Anna emerged from his room a moment later with the T-shirt that she had given him that week. "Found it!"

Hiccup quickly pushed past Rapunzel and dashed into his room, attempting to lock the door. Anna chased him, shouting her lungs out, while Toothless stared up at him from his pen wondering what the heck was going on.

Hiccup was just about to get the door locked when Anna burst through, knocking him down in the process. Without missing a beat, the strawberry blond pinned him to the ground and proceeded to try and take off his shirt.

"Anna!" Rapunzel cried, horrified. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm changing his shirt, what does it look like?!" Anna snapped.

"It looks like you're-" Rapunzel was cut off when Anna twisted Hiccup's flailing arm behind his back, causing the poor boy to yelp in pain.

"Rapunzel, save me!" He cried.

"Ok, Anna! That's enough!" Rapunzel leaned down and pulled her cousin off of Hiccup, but Anna still had a death grip on his shirt, which was almost entirely off of his body by now.

Meanwhile, the front door was still unlocked, and Norma had been able to find her way in. Hearing the noise, she cautiously walked into Hiccup's room just in time to see Anna trying to rip off Hiccup's shirt while Rapunzel tried in vain to stop her.

Norma nearly dropped her picket sign. "_What_ is going _on?!_"

Before anybody could answer, Anna finally managed to get Hiccup's shirt off from over his head, causing all three of them to fall sprawled onto the ground.

Anna was the first to sit up. "Haha!" She yelled, holding up his shirt triumphantly. "Now you _have_ to put on the uniform!"

Rapunzel sighed and looked up at the bewildered Norma. "She was trying to change his shirt," she explained.

"Oh," said Norma. "For a second I thought she was trying to-never mind."

Hiccup was next to get up. "Anna, you are crazy!" he spat. "Fine, I'll put on the stupid shirt, for God's sake! Give it to me!"

Anna smirked and handed him the blue Merida shirt. Rapunzel shot Hiccup another apologetic look as he disappeared into his room.

Toothless was still sitting on his rock staring at his owner with a bewildered look. Hiccup just gave a quiet, anguished groan.

"Toothless, why do I have such weird friends?" he complained.

In response, Toothless rolled over onto his back and gave Hiccup a lizard grin.

Hiccup sighed, put on the shirt, wrapped the red bandana around his head, and looked down at himself in disgust. Merida's photocopied smiling face stared back at him.

"Ugh. Let's get this overwith."

Hiccup walked out of his room to find that MK had arrived along with Mavis, and Anna was apparently giving them a hard time because neither of them were wearing uniforms either.

"I spent like an hour making those shirts!" Anna pouted. "How come nobody wants to wear them?"

"Because they look stupid, that's why," Hiccup replied.

"Why, Hiccup?" Norma teased. "It looks pretty good on you."

"Oh shut up, you're wearing the exact same thing."

MK shrugged. "Sorry I forgot," she said simply. "But hey, at least I'm wearing blue, right?"

"That's not good enough," Anna whined.

"Oh Anna, just let her go." Rapunzel giggled. "You've already tortured enough people about the uniform for today, ok?"

Hiccup snorted.

Anna sighed in defeat. "Alright, fine. I hope Jack and Oncie...well, I hope _Jack_ is wearing it, at least."

The protest was supposed to start around 9:00 AM, but it was already around 9:15 and the last two boys had yet to show up. Hiccup and the rest were hanging out in the living room, making small talk and trying to keep Anna from getting too antsy.

Finally, 9:30 came around and the strawberry-blond couldn't wait any longer. "We'll just have to start without them!" She declared, standing up. She picked up her picket sign and marched toward the door, motioning for the others to follow her. "Come on, guys! Let's go before Merida and her mom decide to go somewhere."

The crew picked up their supplies and followed her. Anna yanked open the door, and as luck would have it, Once-ler and Jack were standing right outside, looking like they were about to ring the doorbell.

Anna practically threw her sign across the room. "_Are you for real?!"_ she snapped, as everyone else in the room burst into laughter. "Why are you late?! You're the one who's always complaining when _we're_ late!"

"Don't blame me!" said Jack, pointing a finger at Once-ler. "It was all his fault!"

Once-ler frowned. "Hey, it's not my fault that my aunt takes the car out every five minutes and doesn't ever fill it up!"

Anna rubbed her temples tiredly. "Fine, whatever. But why aren't you in uniform?"

Jack pretended to look confused. "There was a uniform?"

"_Are you serious?!_"

"I'm kidding!" Jack laughed. "I just didn't want Merida's face on my shirt, that's all! At least I'm wearing blue!"

The others struggled not to laugh as Anna sighed in exasperation. "Never mind. Forget the shirts. I give up. Let's just go."

The group of friends walked excitedly over to Merida's front yard next door. Anna placed a small box on the ground and stood on top of it, a large smile on her face.

"Alright," she declared. "We're here to support Merida! We're here to end the injustice that has been invading the DunBroch home! We are here to declare that we believe Merida can be whoever she wants to be!"

Each statement was followed by a couple of cheers and whoops, along with a couple of giggles.

"Now before we start," said Anna from her soapbox. "I want to invite Hiccup up here to say a few words about-"

"_No._"

Anna gaped in surprise at Hiccup's abrupt response, then turned to address the group again. "Everybody, Hiccup's a big stick in the mud and won't support the cause! This is a protest, so you say how you feel about this!"

"Hiccup, you suck!" Jack snickered, playfully giving him a whack on the shoulder.

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Oh for God's sake," he murmured. "Look, I'm just not very good at improvised speeches, ok? So...I think that Anna should take it from here, because after all, she's the one who planned this..._lovely_ protest."

Anna giggled. "Fair enough, Hiccup." Then she turned on her heel, held up her giant sign, and stood up straight. "Alright, now I wanna hear you _SCREAM!_"

* * *

"Meridaaaaa!"

The red-haired girl pulled her headphones out of her ears at the sound of her mom calling her name. "What?"

"Come out here please!"

"Mum, I'm busy doing homework!"  
This was only halfway true, Merida was actually listening to music and doing a little bit of her homework every now and then...but hey, at least it wasn't a total lie, right?

"Just come out here for a minute!"

Merida groaned and groggily did as her mother said. She found her standing by the window, with a cross look on her face. As she got closer, Merida heard the sound of chanting and yelling coming from the front yard. She frowned. What the heck was going on?

Elinor gave her daughter an annoyed look and pointed out the window. "Is this yer doing?" she asked.

Merida gave her mom a confused look, and then proceeded to look outside the window. Her jaw dropped.

All of her friends from school were standing out there, looking like they were holding some kind of organized protest. Anna was standing on a soapbox, and she was by far the rowdiest one of all. Well, that was nothing new, Anna was always the rowdiest, but this time she was going way overboard. While Merida watched, she even started yelling "We declare that you let Merida be whoever the _hell_ she wants to be!" after which she received a push from Rapunzel while the others laughed.

Everyone was all dressed up for the event, too. They had painted stripes under their eyes, had red bandanas over their heads (Merida's favorite color), and half of them were wearing blue shirts with her _face_ printed on them. Additionally, there were a few picket signs being carried, saying things like _Let Her Register!_ and _Let Merida Follow Her Passion!_ and _Archery Tournament or Bust!_

Merida was speechless. It was true that she had kept complaining about the Archery Tournament to them at school, but she had never expected them to respond this way. Not even Anna. The sight of it was almost enough to make her cry...but she was way too tough to do that.

Elinor, meanwhile, was still glaring at her. "Merida," she said softly. "Did ye tell yer friends to do this?"

Merida shook her head vigorously. "No! It wasn't me!" she defended. "I didn't do it!"

"Then why are they out there?"

"I have no idea!"

Elinor continued to look at her skeptically.

"Believe me, mum!" Merida insisted. "I had nothing to do with this!"

Her mother hesitated for a moment, before she finally sighed. "Alright, I believe you," she conceded. "But please, can ye get them to stop? They're causing such a racket...!"

Merida nodded, still feeling a little numb. Before she went out, she spotted her megaphone by the door picked it up. Without another word, she stepped out the door.

Her friends quieted down quickly when they saw her. Anna was smiling excitedly, but Merida kept a stern face and raised the bullhorn to her mouth.

"I've been sent here to stop ye," she declared. She paused for a moment, watching her friends' surprised faces, before breaking into a grin herself. "But we all know I'm not going to do that. Gimme one of those signs!"

Her friends cheered as she marched over, and they handed her one of the signs. Rapunzel quickly painted two pairs of stripes under her eyes, and Merida was soon standing at the very front of the protest, leading them in chants with her megaphone. The noise soon attracted her little brothers, and they soon joined in, yelling and screaming along despite having no clue what was going on. At least they weren't tackling anyone this time.

The protest continued for about half an hour. People were giving them weird stares as they passed by, but this only encouraged them more.

Anna soon grabbed the bullhorn away from Merida. "Come on, Mrs. DunBroch!" she called, all pumped up. "We know you can hear us! We're not leaving until you agree!"

Merida's mother did not respond, and Anna was about to yell something else when Rapunzel quickly took it away from her. "That's enough from you," the brunette said. "Anybody else want a turn with the bullhorn?"

"Me!" cried Jack.

Rapunzel handed it to him.

"I just want to tell a deeply emotional story," Jack jokingly declared into the bullhorn, "It's not really related to any of this, but I thought I'd share it with you all...so one time my brother and I were walking into the men's room at the mall and we-hey!"

Anna took the megaphone from Jack and tossed it into Hiccup's arms. "Hiccup, say something!"

Hiccup glared at her, but before he could respond, Merida's brothers snatched it away from him and started yelling incomprehensible blabber into it.

"Ok, that's it!" Rapunzel yelled, taking the bullhorn away again. "The megaphone is restricted to Merida from now on!"

"Aw come on," Once-ler complained. "I didn't get a turn."

"I didn't get to finish my story!" said Jack.

Rapunzel ignored them and handed the megaphone back to Merida.

But before they could resume their little protest, the door opened, and an extremely tired-looking Elinor walked elegantly out to meet them.

The group of friends grew silent the woman walked over to them. Nothing was said for a long time.

Finally, Elinor sighed. "Yer really not backin' down, are ye?" she asked.

Merida shook her head.

Elinor gave her a slight look of disapproval, and there was another moment of silence before she finally tossed her arms up in defeat. "Alright. Fine. You win. Ye can go ahead and sign up for the damned Archery Tournament."

Before she could even finish her sentence, the group erupted into cheers. Merida was jumping up and down with joy, and the other girls engulfed her in a huge hug. Hiccup was standing there stunned, as if he hadn't expected this to happen, but still looked happy nonetheless.

"Come on, come on!" Anna cheered excitedly. "Let's go sign you up!"

The group of teenagers all but dropped everything on the ground and dashed inside. Merida sat down at her computer, went to the website, and finally registered, all while accompanied by whoops and cheers from her friends.

"You guys, this was great!" Merida exclaimed, hugging Anna and MK with her arms. "Thank you all so much for this!"

"Well, don't thank us!" Anna giggled. "Thank Hiccup, the whole thing was his idea!"

Hiccup felt his face turn red. "Seriously Anna?"

"What?" Merida asked, surprised. "Hiccup, this was yer idea?"

The boy sighed and shrugged. "Well, sort of. The protest was Anna's idea...I was just the one who...thought we should do something, because we were like talking about it last week, and, uh...yeah."

Merida chuckled. "Fair enough," she said. And then she walked up to Hiccup and gave him a huge, bone-crushing bear hug. "Thanks."

Hiccup was stunned, but he slowly hugged her back. After a moment, she quickly released him and went back to her excited rambling.

Meanwhile Anna watched this scene go down with mild excitement in her eyes. "Oh no...Oncie," she nudged the tall boy standing next to her and whispered, "Oncie, _I'm shipping them so hard right now._"

Once-ler rolled his eyes. "Are you serious, Anna?"

"Yes look at them they're so cute!"

"But you can't ship your friends, that's just weird!"

"Yes, I can!" she turned to MK. "I can ship them, right MK? Aren't try cute?"

MK just grinned and shrugged her shoulders. "Um, sure?"

Anna clapped her hands excitedly. "This is great! Now we can get them together! We can start another movement!"

Once-ler rolled his eyes again. "I'm leaving."

* * *

He got a D.

Hiccup was mortified. He thought he had finally gotten it. What was happening? He got a D! A _D_! He was going to die. He just felt it. He was going to die.

"Hey! Heeeeey! Hiccup!"

Hiccup jumped. He had just been on his way home, staring at the ground, when he heard Merida calling out his name. Slowly, he turned to see her holding up his brown jacket.

"Ye forgot this," she told him, tossing the jacket into his arms.

"Oh, uh...thanks."

Merida nodded, and paused. "Hey, what's on yer mind today anyway? Yer totally spaced out."

Hiccup hesitated. "N-nothing. I just...I've just been in a little bit of shock, that's all."

Merida's red eyebrows flew upward. "Shock? What happened, did someone die?"

"What? No, it's not that bad!" He paused. "Well, it wasn't a person, anyway. But my perfect record is pretty dead now."

"Oh? What happened?"

Hiccup just turned around. "I don't want to talk about it. See you tomorrow."

"Aw come on!" Merida insisted. "We're friends here, aren't we?" She reached over and snatched the paper out of Hiccup's hands.

Merida frowned. "Isn't this the thing that ye were studyin' all weekend for?"

Hiccup snatched the paper back. "Yes. And I didn't say you could touch it."

"Well, what happened?"

Hiccup just turned around and didn't answer.

Merida shrugged. "Well, it's not such a big deal," she reassured him. "Ye already have perfect grades in everything else, so one D isn't gonna screw ye over."

"That's not the point," Hiccup mumbled.

Merida hesitated. "Hey look," she began slowly. "If ye need some help, I know somebody who can help you."

"No thank you," the boy responded immediately. "I do not need a tutor."

Merida frowned. "Fine, then. I was just tryin' te help. You go ahead and fail math if ye want to." She crossed her arms triumphantly as Hiccup stopped in his tracks.

The boy murmured something under his breath before turning back to Merida. "Fine. Send me the number or something."

Merida grinned. "Will do! Later, Hic!" she turned to walk toward her own home.

Hiccup lingered there for a moment. "Hey Merida..." he called out."Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?"

Merida turned back to him with a grin. "Well, ye helped me get into the archery contest, didn't ye?" she said nonchalantly. "It only seems fittin' to repay the favor."

Hiccup blinked, and slowly nodded. "Ok...I guess you're right. Thanks."

Merida nodded at him again and disappeared into her own house. Once she was gone, Hiccup turned and walked slowly to his own house, still wondering how he would explain the crappy test score to his dad. Hiccup opened the door, hoping his dad wasn't anywhere nearby, and dashed in."

"Hiccup, yer home!" he heard his father call. "How was school?"

Hiccup skidded to a stop, turning slowly around to face his dad. "Uh..." He hesitated, hiding the paper behind his back. "It was...good."

"Good?"

"Good." Hiccup grinned.

His dad nodded. "Alright, that's good."

"Yeah, good."

His dad gave him a confused smile. "Ok, good."

Hiccup nodded, still smiling nervously, and dashed up the stairs into his room. Slamming the door, he accidentally woke up Toothless from his nap, and the lizard stared at him grumpily.

Hiccup slapped the test paper down on his desk and sat down. What was he doing? His dad would find out sooner or later. Wouldn't it be easier to tell him now?

No, no, not now. Not until he had a better test score to follow it up with. And besides, Merida was going to help him out, right? It couldn't be that bad.

At the thought of Merida, Hiccup heard a familiar _thwack_ coming from outside. Now that Merida was officially registered for the Tournament, she was practicing even more rigorously, not that she actually needed more practice, though.

Hiccup glanced out the window to see Merida happily practicing. When she spotted him, she gave him a wave. "Did ye tell yer dad?" she called from her yard.

"Uh, no." Hiccup responded. "Not yet.

"That's ok!" Merida shouted back. "I never tell my mum about bad scores either!"

Hiccup chuckled. Merida was such a bad influence, but or some reason, that didn't really bother him that much. "Hey, about that tutor," he called. "Does he go to our school?"

"Yeah! I think he's in one of Mavis' classes er somethin'!"

"A sophomore?" Hiccup frowned. Well, great. Just to make things worse, he was going to be tutored by someone younger than him.

"Yeah, he's a total nerd!" said Merida. "I thought you were a nerd, but this guy is insane! Anyway, I need to focus here...!"

"Right, sorry," said Hiccup. He turned back into his room as Merida went back to her archery practice.

He glanced at the stupid test on his desk again. Then he picked it up, tore it in half, and tossed it in the trash. He flopped himself down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, deciding to put off doing homework for a change.

Of course, throwing it in the trash wouldn't help, Hiccup knew that. His dad would still find out about it from the school website. But a Hiccup listened to the repeated _thwacks_ coming from the carefree girl next door, he found that it didn't really bother him that much.

* * *

**Hope you liked! Episode 6 will be here...soon...XD but for now, don't forget to follow, review, all that jazz. See you!**


	6. Episode 6: Sisters and Secrets

**Warning: Extra long episode ahead! XD**

* * *

Episode 6: Sisters and Secrets

Elsa took another sip of her coffee and typed vigorously on her laptop. With her new job taking up all her time after school, she'd have to finish as much of her homework now as she possibly could. If she could stay awake.

Elsa sighed loudly and quickly restrained herself so as not to disturb the quiet of the library. She drummed her fingers on the table softly, trying to think of what else she could put into her research paper. Why, oh why, oh why did her professors have to assign so much research? Why had she even come to college anyway? She was getting awfully sick of being here, having to worry about homework as well as having to work all the time to support herself and her sister...

"Ahem...um, Elsa?"

Elsa blinked tiredly and looked up across the table to see her friend Linda sitting there. "Yeah?"

Linda smiled weakly. "Uh, I dropped my pencil on your side and I asked you to get it, but you didn't answer..."

"Oh...sorry." she leaned down and picked up the pencil, and handed it back to Linda before going back to her work.

Linda closed the book she was reading and stood up to leave. "Hey, you wanna go grab some lunch or something?"

Elsa shook her head. "Not hungry."

"Are you sure? You look like you could use a break."

Elsa paused, staring once more at her computer screen, which was starting to appear blurry before her eyes. "Um...alright. I guess lunch wouldn't be so bad."

Elsa packed up her stuff and followed Linda out of the library and out to her college campus. It was pretty lively as usual, with some students chatting and eating lunch while others were busy doing homework. Elsa blinked a little in the blinding light while Linda chattered away.

"Where do you want to go?" her friend asked. "I've got a couple of coupons for the Chicken King, you in the mood?"

Elsa shrugged. "I don't really care."

Before Linda could say anything more, a male student suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tapped Linda on the shoulder.

"Linda," he huffed in a Brazilian accent. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you."

"Tulio!" Linda answered, nervously tucking and strand of hair behind her ear. "Y-you were looking for me...?"

"Yes! Remember, we said we would meet up today to discuss our project!"

Linda blinked, confused, and then her eyes widened in realization. "Oh! I'm sorry, I forgot! But..." she turned nervously toward Elsa. "I told Elsa I'd go to lunch with her..."

Elsa smiled sympathetically. "No, it's alright. If you need to work on your project, then I can eat lunch by myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure, it sounds like it's pretty important."

Tulio nodded. "It is. We're just getting started with phase one. Would you like to hear about it?"

Linda chuckled. "Ah, Tulio, don't bore her with the details..."

Tulio grinned sheepishly. "Sorry...it's just that it's a fundraiser and I'm trying to get the word out. It's kind of like a Pet Appreciation Fair...thing. Like a gathering of pet lovers to come together while getting educated about taking care of animals. You should come!"

"Oh, thanks..." Elsa replied, "But I don't have a pet."

"Oh, that's ok. Everyone is invited. You don't have to bring a pet."

"Well, my sister does like animals a lot..." said Elsa with a shrug. "I'll think about it."

Linda and Tulio beamed. "Awesome!" Linda said. "We'll keep you posted, ok?"

"Ok, bye!"

Linda and Tulio waved goodbye to her and disappeared, leaving Elsa alone. Elsa stepped down from the library steps and walked toward the campus, trying to find a place to eat. She felt lonely all of a sudden. Linda wasn't a particularly close friend, but she was someone to talk to, at least. She was definitely a lot better than creepy guys who ogled her body all the time or snobby girls who only wanted to hang out with her just to be popular or something...

Elsa sighed, and noticed that there was an empty table a few feet away. She was just walking toward it, when suddenly she heard someone screaming.

"Aghhhh!" The voice yelled. "What's wrong with you, are you trying to kill me?!"

Elsa jumped. That sounded like a little girl. What would a little girl be doing here?! And was she in danger?

Elsa quickly walked over to where the sound had come from, then stopped. If there was somebody in danger back there, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to save her. But then again, Elsa had a pretty mean kick, so it would be ok...right?

Elsa peered around the corner just as she heard whimpers of pain.

"S-sorry," a male voice responded. "But if you weren't standing on the table, I wouldn't have pushed you off."

Elsa saw a table, with a young black-haired girl standing on top, facing a large brown-haired young man who was sitting down with several homework papers scattered in front of him. He didn't appear to be attacking her. It was probably just a false alarm.

The little girl stuck a tongue out at the young man. "Well if you didn't have such big fat hands then you wouldn't have knocked me off the table, would you?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Vanellope. Now go away and lemme do my homework."

"Aw, come on!" the girl, apparently named Vanellope, complained. She tossed her tiny body toward the boy's huge shoulder and shook it. "You're so boring, let's play! I didn't come all the way here to watch you do homework!"

"I never asked you to come." he playfully shoved a hand in Vanellope's face, pushing her away from him.

Elsa giggled quietly. Looks like there was nothing to worry about. And that little girl kinda reminded her if Anna...

Elsa then turned her attention to the large guy who was sitting at the table. He looked familiar. _Oh, isn't that that one guy...Eugene's roommate? What was his name again? Richie? Raymond?_

Meanwhile, Vanellope was pretending to choke. "Oh, the amount of germs and grossness on your hands!" she groaned. "Ralph, when was the last time you washed your hands?! I'm coughing up grime here!"

_Ralph._ That was it.

Vanellope pretended to faint on the table while Ralph rolled his eyes. This made Elsa laugh even louder in spite of herself. She really did remind her of Anna!

Unfortunately, she laughed a little too loud, and caught the little girl's attention. Vanellope's eyes lit up and she nudged Ralph in the shoulder. "Hey, don't look now," the small girl said. "But there's a really pretty girl checking you out."

"What?" Ralph turned around in surprise, as if he couldn't believe such a thing would happen.

Elsa's eyes widened in embarrassment. "O-oh no, it's not that...I-I'm sorry to eavesdrop..."

"Oh, er, hey..." Ralph stammered when he saw who it was. "You're...Elsa, right? Eugene's, er, cousin or something?"

"No, his girlfriend is my cousin. Anyway, I'm...so sorry about intruding, it's just that I heard some yelling, and I thought someone was in trouble."

Ralph rolled his eyes. "See, Vanellope? You're gonna make someone think I'm a murderer or something!"

"Yeah, well, you look like one!" Vanellope retorted.

Elsa chuckled. "Well, anyway, it looks like everything's all right over here, so I'll be going..." The young woman turned to leave, when suddenly an excited gasp escaped from Vanellope's mouth, stopping her.

"Wait, hold on!" Vanellope called. "Is that Captain Mars on your bag?"

Elsa glanced down at the bag where she kept her textbooks and laptop. "Well, yeah..."she said with a smile. "It's from when I was younger."

"I've never seen that one before! Can I see your bag? Please?"

Elsa hesitated, and then shrugged. "I...guess...so..." she walked slowly back to the table where Ralph was sitting, removing her laptop from the bag as she went so Vanellope wouldn't break it. She was just taking the bag off her shoulders and setting it on the table when Vanellope snatched it up, heavy as it was, and dragged it over to her side of the table.

Ralph looked up from his homework and frowned. "Hey, Vanellope, you can't just take people's bags away from them!"

"Aw, come on, I'm just looking at it!" Vanellope whined.

"It's ok," Elsa interjected. "She can look at it for a little bit."

Ralph didn't seem satisfied but let Vanellope go. Meanwhile, the little girl was ogling the bag with great delight, obviously admiring an age-old picture of her favorite superhero. Ralph and Elsa just watched her, rather awkwardly.

After a couple seconds, Ralph cleared his throat. "Do you, um...wanna sit down?"

Elsa blinked in surprise. She didn't like sitting next to strange guys...especially scary-looking guys like Ralph. But it would be impolite to refuse, and well, she could always leave if things got uncomfortable. "Sure," she replied quietly, sitting slowly down next to Ralph. She glanced over at him from the corner if her eye. No boob-ogling so far. That was a good sign.

Vanellope was going crazy over the bag. "This is like, a rare antique!" she squealed. "They haven't drawn in this style since like...season 2! And look how faded her face is." She gasped. "I need to take a picture of this and show it to my friends! Ralph, can I borrow your phone?"

"No," Ralph replied without looking up.

Vanellope looked shocked, then gave him a pair of big puppy eyes. Elsa smiled and glanced over at Ralph to see what he would do.

Ralph must have felt Elsa's eyes on him, for he blushed a little and handed Vanellope his phone, grumbling a little.

Vanellope happily took the phone away and took several pictures of the bag. "From all angles! Oh, and a selfie!" She did exactly that.

Elsa found herself laughing again. "She's adorable," she said. "She reminds me of my little sister."

Ralph scoffed. "Is your little sister completely obnoxious?"

"No, no...but she was just as energetic and excitable when she was younger."

Ralph nodded. "So...question, is your little sister _still_ like this? I just wanna know if there's any hope for Vanellope."

This made Elsa laugh. "No, my sister is...she's older now, and she's more..." Elsa paused, frowning. "Well, she's still pretty rowdy, but now she's...uh, pretty..." she stopped talking, and Ralph was looking at her expectantly.

"I...don't know." Elsa said quietly. "I don't know. I haven't hung out with Anna in a really long time."

"Oh, are you two, like...separated or something?" asked Ralph. "Uh, not meaning to pry or anything..."

Elsa shook her head. "No, we live together, but..." she frowned, trailing off. "Well, we don't talk much. She's usually off with her friends, and...I'm usually working or doing homework." She paused, as she was suddenly interrupted by her own yawn. "And...when I'm done I'm usually too tired to hang out with her. She's always upset about that, but there's nothing I can do about it."

Elsa stopped suddenly. What was she doing? She barely knew this guy, and she was practically telling him her life story. All that was left was for her to tell him where she lived and that she was an orphan. Cautiously, Elsa looked over to see Ralph's reaction.

He looked thoughtful, staring down at his homework, but clearly listening to everything she was saying. He noticed that she had stopped, and looked up in surprise. "Oh, uh...I'm real sorry about that..." he paused. "Why...why do you work so much...?"

"Um...circumstances."

"Oh, I see."

They were quiet for a moment. Elsa was just waiting for her bag back, and it was getting really awkward. Then, she found herself saying something else.

"What do you think I should do?"

Ralph, blinked, surprised that someone was actually asking him for advice, and shrugged. "Er, well I'm not really the person to ask, but...maybe you should make some time for her?"

Elsa looked up curiously.

Ralph continued. "Like, if you feel like some of the work you're doing is unnecessary, then just ditch it and hang out with your sister." he stopped. "Well, I mean, not saying that you should skip your homeowner or ditch your job air anything, but just...like, make an effort to spend time with her...or at least that's what they say in the movies."

Elsa chuckled. "What kind of movies do you watch, exactly?" she teased.

Ralph grinned sheepishly. "What? I watch gory and violent movies, of course...I only watch chick flicks when my girlfriend makes me."

Vanellope burst out laughing. "Oh, God, Ralph, you with a girlfriend?! Don't lie to her!" she turned to Elsa. "He doesn't watch gory movies either."

The two looked up to see Vanellope sitting down and grinning, holding Elsa's bag and Ralph's phone in her lap.

Ralph frowned. "How long have you been sitting there?"

"A while," Vanellope replied. "I finished taking pictures long ago, but you two seemed like you were having a meaningful conversation."

Elsa felt her face turn red. Great, now this little girl knew all about her life problems too.

Ralph didn't seem to notice. "Well, give her the bag back so she can leave."

Vanellope picked up the bag and handed it to Elsa, who stood up and placed it on her shoulder. "Thank you," Elsa said. "And thanks for the advice, Ralph."

Ralph turned pink and looked at the ground. "Uh, no problem..."

Elsa smiled and quickly headed off, trying once more to find a place for lunch.

Once she was gone, Vanellope scooted a little closer to her older cousin, noting the slight pink color of his face. She grinned. "So..." she said. "You two seem pretty close."

"What are you talking about? We barely know each other."

Vanellope just snickered.

Meanwhile, Elsa sat down at the table that she had seen earlier and began to munch on a sandwich. Ralph's advice came back to mind and she frowned. Ditch unnecessary work? But all of her work was necessary. She had to work to support herself and Anna and she had to finish her homework for college...

Suddenly, another thought suddenly popped into her head. Why did she go to college anyway?

Elsa leaned on her arm and considered this. No, really, why? She wanted to be successful in life, yes, but it was taking up time, and money...money that Anna would probably need when she went to college. Sure, she could depend on her aunt and uncle for help, but Elsa didn't want to become too dependent. She could probably find a full-time job, that would be less taxing on her than two jobs and college. She would be able to spend more time with her sister, and it would save a whole lot of money. If, for some reason, she couldn't depend on her aunt and uncle anymore, Anna would be able to secure her future, even if Elsa's wasn't so good.

The young woman munched on her sandwich an sighed. Drop out of college? That was insane. But...if it would help Anna...

Elsa checked her watch and realized that her class would be starting soon. Sighing once more, she took a few more hasty bites of her sandwich and pushed the topic out of her mind. She didn't want to make such a hasty decision right away.

Elsa thought for a moment longer as she got up and decided to give herself until the end of the semester to decide. Satisfied for now, Elsa hurried off to the building on the opposite side of campus.

* * *

Elsa fixed the rear-view mirror in front of her as Anna stood outside the car, arguing with some of her many friends. (There were so many of them, Elsa could never remember all their names.)

"No I can't make it this weekend," Anna told her friends, talking about who knows what. "Elsa's gonna be working and stuff, and I can't take the car."

Elsa bit her lip.

"Maybe we could give ye a ride?" A girl with fiery red hair asked.

"Probably," replied Anna. "I'll call you. But it's not like I want to go to some jock party, anyway. And I probably wouldn't be able to get past Elsa anyway."

Elsa rolled her eyes. Was she really talking about this while she was sitting right in the car?

As Anna continued discussing the thing with her friends, someone tapped on the window across from her. Elsa looked to see Anna's friends Jack and Once-ler grinning and waving at her through the window.

Elsa rolled her eyes again. Now _those_ two she remembered. They never left her alone when she had been in high school, always running around and flirting with her. It was clear now that they were joking, and it was slightly amusing, but it was still annoying. She couldn't believe that Anna was still hanging out with those losers.

She looked away, signaling that she wasn't in the mood for their antics right now. She had more important things on her mind. Elsa heard the two boys groan in disappointment as she turned away.

"She just rejected me," Jack complained.

"Well, duh. Who wouldn't reject you, Jack?" Once-ler joked.

"You realize that she rejected you, too."

"She's in denial."

Elsa scoffed softly. "Anna!" she called in frustration. "Hurry up!"

Anna apologized to her two friends, and quickly got in the car.

"No jock party," Elsa told her the moment she got in.

"I know, I know," Anna replied. "We weren't serious anyway. Merida just wanted to crash it and leave." she giggled, but stopped when Elsa didn't respond.

The ride was silent, as usual, but today Elsa was under a lot of stress. Should she tell Anna about what she had been thinking about today? She and Anna rarely talked, even at home, but...Elsa felt like she needed to know. She was doing all if this for her, after all, and Anna had seemed awfully upset when Elsa hadn't told her about the second job. If she intended to spend more time with her sister in the future, she would have to establish a good amount of communication with her now. Elsa checked her clock and noticed that it was still only 4:30, so there was still plenty of time before she had to go to work. Maybe she would have a little talk with Anna when they got home...

* * *

Anna grabbed a snack and plopped herself down on the couch to watch TV, just like she usually did. She still had a little bit of homework to do, but it was ok, she still had all evening.

Anna took a bite out of her chocolate-chip cookie and was about to reach for the remote, when she noticed that Elsa was still lingering by the door. That was odd. Her sister usually went right to her room to start of homework. Something must have been troubling her.

Hesitating for a moment, Anna cleared her throat. "Uh, Elsa...? Don't you have homework?"

Elsa nodded slowly as she closed the door, but she didn't head to her room. Instead, she walked over to where Anna was sitting and moved the remote to make room for herself on the couch. "Anna..." the young woman said softly. "I...I need to talk to you about something."

Anna frowned, but nodded and let Elsa sit down. Elsa sat, and was quiet for a moment, as if trying to figure out what to say.

"Anna..." She said again. "You know how you're always complaining about how we never...you know, talk much?"

Anna nodded slowly, still not quite sure where this was going.

"Well..." Elsa took a deep breath. "I think I have an idea of how that might work, but...it's not final yet, it's just an idea...you see, two jobs is getting to be a bit too much, so...I'm just going to stick with one."

Anna smiled with delight. "Oh, that's great, Elsa! I told you it would make you tired. You can just quit your second job now, right?"

Elsa shook her head. "No, Anna, we still need the money, and I don't want to be dependent on our aunt and uncle...what I mean is...to work one job..._full time_."

Anna's smile faded slowly. "Full time? But...what about...college?"

Elsa bit her lip and said nothing.

"You're not dropping out, are you?!"

"Anna, I haven't decided yet..." Elsa sighed. "It's just a thought."

"No, don't think about that!" Anna practically shouted. "I won't let you!"

"Anna, calm down please," Elsa replied quietly. "I told you, it's not a final decision yet. If things don't get better by the end of the semester, only then will I really consider it."

Anna tried her best to hold back her tears. "B-but why would you want to drop out in the first place?" She asked. "Don't you want to have a good future, like mom and dad wanted for you?"

At the mention of their parents, Elsa looked at the floor. "Of course I do, Anna," the young woman replied. "But college...takes up so much time and money...money that you will need for your own tuition very soon."

"But what about Rapunzel's parents?" Anna argued. "Th-they'll probably give us all the money we need!"

"Anna, I told you. We can't depend on them for everything. We need to try and stand on our own so that we aren't stuck to them for life. And besides..." Elsa gave her little sister a pained smile. "If I don't have homework to worry about, then we'll get to spend more time together. Isn't that what you want?"

Anna just sat there. "Well...yes...but..." she trailed off. "Elsa...I don't want you to do this to yourself."

Elsa only hesitated a moment longer, her smile gone. "Well, again, it's not final..." she said. "I'll wait until the end of the semester." The two girls sat there a moment longer before Elsa got up. "Anyway...I have homework to do. Are you...gonna be ok?"

Anna looked up at her sister with desperate eyes, but nodded. Elsa seemed satisfied with this and disappeared into her room, leaving Anna alone to process what she had just heard,

She was anything but ok. She felt sick. She wanted to cry but she couldn't. She didn't even want to eat her chocolate chip cookie anymore.

Why was Elsa so determined to ruin herself?! It wasn't fair! She needed the money just as much as Anna did.

The girl suddenly felt like she was suffocating in her tiny apartment. She wanted to get out. Pulling out her phone, Anna shakily called Rapunzel, almost instinctively, even though she had no idea what to say.

Her cousin picked up almost instantly. _"Hey, Anna, what's up?"_ she asked, perky as usual.

Anna opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Instead, it was just a bunch of whimpers and choking sounds. Anna shut her mouth.

_"Anna? Helllloooo?"_ Another pause. "_Did you butt-dial me again?"_

The joke snapped Anna out of her funk a little, or at least enough to talk. "Ra...punzel?"

"_Anna? What's going on?"_

"Rapunzel could you...meet me? Somewhere? I-I need to talk to you."

"_Is everything ok?"_ Rapunzel asked, concerned.

"I don't know," Anna squeaked. "I just need to talk to you."

"_Ok...how about we meet at that coffee store across the street from you? Is that ok?"_

Anna nodded, even though she knew Rapunzel couldn't hear her. "Ok."

Rapunzel hung up hastily, probably getting ready to leave, but Anna sat there frozen for a little while longer. Finally, she got up slowly, and walked over to Elsa's room. Hands shaking a little, she knocked on the door. "Elsa...?"

Elsa didn't answer. She was probably focused on homework.

Anna vainly knocked again and squeaked out her sister's name, before giving up and pulling out her phone instead.

_I'm meeting Punzie at the coffee shop_, she texted. _Be back soon_.

Anna couldn't have left faster.

She got to the coffee shop in a few minutes and noticed that Rapunzel still wasn't there. The smell of baked pastries filled her nose, reminding her that she still hasn't had her after-school snack. She didn't feel like eating though.

Anna sat down at the table, trying to get her thoughts in order, when suddenly something on the front counter caught her eye. It was a sign, a simple white paper taped to cardboard, that said, "HELP WANTED."

Anna felt herself tense up when the thought occurred to her. _Don't be ridiculous, Anna_, she told herself. _You already have a job at the local bakery. You don't want to overwork yourself like Elsa... _

...But then again...the one thing that caused Elsa to do this to herself was money, right? And if they had more money...Elsa wouldn't have to drop out of college, right?

Anna stood up.

_I mean, it's not like it would totally hurt, right?_ Anna thought. _Just a few extra hours after school or something. Even on minimum wage it would still help a lot..._

Anna was standing by the counter, reading over the application. With trembling hands, she slowly filled it out, questioning herself the whole time but continuing nonetheless. It ok her about fifteen minutes to fill it out, and she quickly slipped it into the slot before hurrying back to her seat.

Anna breathed heavily. _What did I just do? Can I really pull this off? What if they call me in for an interview? No, I won't go. No, I will! It will be hard, but...if Elsa can do it, then so can I, right? Right?_

"Anna?"

Anna snapped out of it and looked up to meet Rapunzel's green eyes. "H-hey," she said.

Rapunzel smiled and sat down, but Anna could see the worry dripping from her eyes. "Hi," her cousin replied. "What's going on, what happened? What's wrong?"

Anna looked at the table, ignoring her growling stomach. "E-Elsa..."

"Yeah...what about Elsa? Did you have a fight?"

"Sort of, she..." her voice dropped to a whisper. "She's thinking about dropping out of college."

Rapunzel's eyes widened. "Dropping out? Why?"

"I don't know!" Anna cried. "She keeps going on about how we need more money, and we can't keep depending on others and how I need college tuition and I just...don't know! I don't know anything!"

"But...she told us that you guys were doing fine!" Rapunzel said. "She said that you were starting to get on your own two feet, and that's why we started cutting you off!"

"Well she lied!" Anna practically yelled. "She's lying, and I can't get her to change her mind! She never listens to me! I don't know what to do!"

"Ok, ok," Rapunzel said, trying to calm her down. "It's a good thing you came and talked to me, then. I'll just tell my parents about this, and-"

"No!" Anna interrupted. "Don't tell your parents. Elsa will get upset. She doesn't want us to be dependent."

Rapunzel looked confused. "But then...what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know." Anna replied, not looking at her cousin. "I...I can handle it. Just promise me you won't tell your parents. Please."

Rapunzel said nothing.

"Please promise."

Rapunzel bit her lip and sighed. "Ok, I promise. But are you sure you can handle this?"

Anna hesitated for a moment, then nodded quickly.

They sat there for a moment longer, not saying anything to each other.

Finally Anna spoke. "Rapunzel?"

"Hmm..?"

"...I'm hungry."

Rapunzel grinned. Even when she was distressed, Anna was still Anna. She got up to buy her cousin a cookie. Chocolate chip, of course.

* * *

A week had passed since then and Rapunzel thought that everything was back to normal. Anna was chatting and joking with them at school, just like always.

But one day, Anna came to school rather pooped. At lunch time, she was practically falling asleep and almost let her head fall into her lunch tray at one point.

"Hey Anna, what's with you?" Mavis giggled. "You're not yourself today."

Anna sat up and slowly, with some effort, opened her eyes. "Whaha-? Who's there?"

The other girls snorted with laughter. "Wake up, Anna."

Anna stretched out her arms and yawned, as if she was just waking up in the morning. "Sorry guys..." she apologized groggily. "I...I pulled an all-nighter last night to...finish an essay."

Mavis grimaced. "Oh man that sucks!"

"I never stay up late fer homework," Merida declared. "It's not worth it. I just turn it in late and my teachers can suck it."

Rapunzel laughed. "That's not going to work when you have a job, Merida."

"Well, this isn't a job. So I can do what I want."

"What class is the essay for?" Mavis asked.

Anna was nodding off again, but she forced herself awake once more. "Ummmm...English. Fredrickson," she replied, poking the table with her fork.

MK frowned at this.

Rapunzel, meanwhile, was still focused on Anna, who was trying to pick up some food with her fork but was missing the tray by a long shot. "Anna, do you realize that you're poking at the table with your fork?" She asked.

Anna looked down in surprise and grinned sheepishly. "Oops...heh, I was wondering why it wasn't getting any food."

The others laughed at her again. "Hey, Anna," Rapunzel said. "If you're tired, you can just sleep. We can save your lunch for you if you-"

Anna didn't let Rapunzel finish her sentence as she pushed her tray aside and collapsed into her arms and fell asleep on the table, only barely mumbling "thank you" before going out.

The girls stared at her in surprise for a moment before Merida poked her arm lightly with her fork. "Damn, she's really _asleep_." the red-head mused.

"Must've been one hell of an essay," Mavis added.

MK cleared her throat. "Uh, guys...there was no essay for Fredrickson. I'm in his class."

Rapunzel's eyebrows shot upward. "Really? Are you sure?"

MK nodded. "Yeah, I think I'd remember if he assigned an essay. He doesn't assign them often..."

Merida snickered. "Well, maybe ye just missed it er something."

MK frowned at her, then her face turned pale. "You think?"

Merida laughed. "Yeah, sure. Happens to me all the time."

"And it's apparently due today, or maybe tomorrow." said Mavis.

MK gaped at them and put her forehead in her hands. "No way! Was there an essay?! What even was the prompt?!"

Merida and Mavis just continued laughing.

"It's not funny!" MK snapped, but this only made them laugh harder.

But Rapunzel wasn't laughing, she was just focused on her cousin once more, watching her sleep soundly on the table. Something wasn't right about her. It wasn't like Anna to lie, but she had the feeling like it wasn't really an essay that made her this tired.

They let her sleep for the rest of the twenty minutes or so that were left of lunch. At first they talked quietly so as not to wake her up, but as it turns out, she was dead to the world and could he probably slept through and earthquake if it had happened.

The girls left Rapunzel to wake her cousin up. Meanwhile, MK was still panicking about the idea of having missed an essay. She had Fredrickson first period, so she thought she would have heard something about it this morning...but then again, Mr. Fredrickson's voice was near impossible to pay any attention to, and she could have missed everything about it. But even so, he could have posted something about it on the school website at least!

MK needed to hurry up and get to Biology, so she sped up, deciding maybe to ask somebody in her class later.

The red-head hurried to class and was able to make it just in time. A couple seconds later, Hans stepped into the classroom and took his spot next to her.

MK rolled her eyes. Biology was by far her favorite class so far, but it would be so much better if she didn't have to sit next to the jerk who had broken her heart during her first week. But at that moment another thought popped into her head.

_He's in my English class._

MK silently cursed her own brain for reminding her of this stupid fact. She tried to think of someone else in her class who she could ask, but there was nobody else who was in this class right now and it would only be a matter of time before she left school and got caught up in other homework. The question was burning her mind at the moment, she had to know if she was missing something or not.

It was just one question anyway. It wasn't like she was asking to be his best friend. She couldn't let some dumb grudge get in the way of her homework grade. "Hey! Psst!"

Hans looked over at her and blinked, surprised that she was talking to him. "Yes?"

"Did we have an essay to do for English?"

He looked a little surprised, but looked away and shrugged. "Not that I know of. Fredrickson barely ever assigns essays-he's too lazy to grade 'em."

MK nodded hastily, relieved to be done with the conversation and that she hasn't actually been missing any important assignments. "Ok, thanks."

She went back to paying attention, wiping the whole thing from her mind but making a mental note to tell Rapunzel later.

* * *

Anna walked through the door of her tiny apartment building and yawned once more. She tossed her backpack onto the couch and grabbed a chocolate chip cookie, along with an energy bar. She couldn't let Elsa know she was here. Her sister thought that she had to stay after school for a club meeting.

Anna had been keeping her second job a secret for a while now, especially from Elsa. She had been questioning herself throughout the whole process, but she had gotten the job, so now he had to deal with it. Now that Elsa wasn't picking her up because of the "club meetings," Anna had started walking the semi-long distance home, changing into her uniform, and working for four hours before coming home and doing all the homework due the next day. It was taxing on her energy, but if Elsa could do it, so could she.

Anna stuffed her snacks into her mouth and went to change into her uniform. Elsa didn't seem to be around at the moment. Anna fixed up her hair in the mirror. She put on a smile, trying not to look tired, and headed out.

She was just about the reach the door to her apartment, when suddenly it opened inward and nearly hit her in the face, revealing Elsa, standing there with a shocked look on her face.

Anna froze. "Elsa..."

Elsa blinked, as of she couldn't believe that he sister was there. "Anna!" she swept her up in a big hug. "Anna where have you been? I've been looking everywhere!"

Anna blinked. "What...? But...I told you I'd be...at school!"

"I just _went_ to your school!" Elsa snapped. "I told you yesterday, I need to pick you up earlier than usual because I have to get to work sooner today! I went to that poetry club you said you joined and they said that you weren't in the club! I started looking everywhere!"

Anna bit her lip as she listened, realizing that her cover had been blown.

Elsa let go of her little sister, and she looked like she was going to scold her some more, when suddenly her eyes fell on her uniform. "What...are you wearing?"

Anna bit her lip. No more use in lying now. "...it's my uniform."

"For what...?"

"...work."

Elsa stared at her for a moment longer, then tiredly rubbed her forehead. "Anna, no..."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Elsa," Anna said coldly. "But I'm doing this for you."

"No," Elsa snapped. "Anna, I'm not going to let you do this."

"I don't care," Anna answered. "I'm not going to let you drop out of college. Now please move, I'm going to be late."

Elsa looked shocked. Then her face twisted into a scowl as she blocked the door. "No."

Anna was expecting this, but she didn't back down. "Elsa, _move,_" she hissed. "I need to get to work."

"There is no work," Elsa told her. "You're going to quit this job."

"No I won't! If you can handle the workload, then so can I! Now move!" Anna wasn't used to yelling this loud, but the stress had been getting to her lately.

"No!" Elsa yelled back. "Anna, why are you doing this?"

"To get you to listen to me!" Anna cried. "You never listen to me! And if this is what it takes, then that's what I'll do! Now if you would please get out of my way-!"

"What do you mean, I never listen to you?! I do everything I do for you!"

"I know, but you never listen! You go out and work yourself to death and you expect me to just deal with it! Well I won't! And I won't drop this job unless you swear that you'll stay in school!"

Elsa gaped at her. "Anna, I might not have a choice-!"

"Well, I'm giving you one now," Anna responded. "Now, get out of my way."

Elsa just stood there, refusing to leave, so Anna pushed past her and sped out the door.

"Anna!" her sister cried after her. "Anna, come back!"

Anna ignored her and ran as fast as she could, not stopping until she got to the front of the coffee store. She quickly caught her breath, stood up straight, and put on a smile.

* * *

"So...you're sure there was no essay?"

MK nodded. "Yeah. I checked with someone in my class..." she bit her lip. "...and then I also emailed my teacher to make sure they weren't lying. Anna was probably just confused."

Rapunzel nodded slowly. "Ok. Maybe today she'll be awake enough to tell us what's really going on."

It was brunch time, and the girls were heading over to their usual spot by Rapunzel's locker (she was the oldest, so she got to choose where they met). At the moment, it was just MK and Rapunzel, who were a couple feet away from the meeting spot, when MK suddenly stopped.

"Aw, crap!" MK said. "I need go get something from my locker. I'll be right back, ok?"

Rapunzel grinned. "Yeah, sure, I'll meet you there."

MK dashed off and Rapunzel continued on her way alone. When she got to her locker, Anna was already there, and she looked even worse than she did yesterday. The poor girl was practically falling asleep while she was standing.

Rapunzel sighed and walked over to her cousin, shaking her shoulder. She might as well ask her about this now before everyone else got here. "Anna?"

Anna jolted awake and tried to keep her eyes open. "Who...? Rapunzel...?"

"Yes, it's me," Rapunzel replied with a sympathetic grin. "You look terrible. Did you have another essay to work on?"

Anna stared straight forward before a moment before sighing and leaning back on the locker. "There was never an essay..." she admitted.

"I know," said Rapunzel gently. "MK told me. But if it wasn't an essay...then what's making you so tired?"

Anna didn't look up, but as it turns out she didn't have the energy to make up another lie. "I've been...working."

"Working?"

"I got another job."

"What?" Rapunzel asked, surprised. "Two jobs? But you're only in high school! Is that even allowed?"

Anna yawned. "I may have...made up a few things on the application."

Rapunzel gaped at her cousin, speechless. "B-but Anna...why?"

"To keep Elsa from dropping out," her cousin replied simply. "I told her that if she wants me to quit this job, then she has to promise to stay in school." the girl yawned again. "She...she'll agree to it soon. You'll see."

Rapunzel shook her head vigorously. "No, Anna. This is getting out of hand. If you could just let my parents help you, we could-"

"No, Punzie, don't tell your parents!" Anna complained. "You promised you wouldn't!"

Rapunzel said nothing, just looked at her cousin with growing concern.

"Look, I told you, don't worry. I've got if all..." another yawn. "...under control..."

Rapunzel noticed that the other three girls were turning the corner and heading their way. She huffed and leaned in closer to Anna. "Look, can we talk about this? Maybe after school?"

"Can't. Busy."

Rapunzel bit her lip. "How about Saturday?"

"Can't. Busy," Anna replied again. "I have to volunteer at a walk-a-Thon thing, then I've got to go to my bakery job..." she shrugged. "And then I think I'll sleep. If I don't have homework."

Rapunzel was about to say more, when Merida suddenly showed up and leaned by the locker next to Anna. "Sleepin' again?" the red-head asked.

Anna looked up groggily and smiled. "Yes. You know me." she yawned. "Oh, wait...ah, shoot. I just remembered I haven't finished my French homework. I'm gonna have to jet..."

"I think you need to rest..." Mavis told her, and the others agreed.

Anna laughed tiredly. "No way, my French teacher is way too strict. And it'll only take a few minutes. See you later."

Anna pushed past them and started walking toward the library. The other girls watched her as she started reeling back and forth as if she was drunk, crashing into a couple people along the way and knocking them down. She finally turned the corner and disappeared, leaving her friends dumbfounded.

Mavis turned to the group and frowned. "Geez, I really hope she doesn't keep acting like this," the girl said. "It's weirding me out."

"Same 'ere," Merida agreed.

Rapunzel bit her lip once more, then turned to her friends. "Ok...new subject." she declared. "How good are you guys at giving advice?"

The other girls looked at each other before laughing. "Terrible," said Mavis.

"Ye don' ever wanna listen to me. Ever." Merida added.

MK shrugged. "I've never given advice before."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "Lovely. Well, can I at least ask a question?"

They nodded.

Rapunzel took a deep breath. "Well, recently a friend of mine is...going through a lot of trouble. She told me about it, and I know that if...if I tell my parents, then they will be able to help. But my friend is being really stubborn and...she made me promise not to tell my parents." She paused. "But...lately she's been getting worse, and she still doesn't want me to tell, and...I don't know, that should I do?"

"You should tell!" Mavis replied, almost instantly. "If it will help her, then you should tell!"

Rapunzel looked surprised. "But...but I promised I wouldn't."

"Ah, Punzie, ye and yer promises." Merida grinned, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. Besides Anna, Merida had been Rapunzel's friend the longest. "Look," the red-head continued. "I know ye like to keep yer promises, and that's good. But yer makin' this sound like yer friend is doin' drugs er somethin' and ye just don't wanna get 'er in trouble."

Rapunzel's jaw dropped. "No, it's not about drugs!" she retorted. "It has nothing to do with that!"

"Even so," MK piped up. "It sounds pretty serious..."

"Yeah, I think you should tell your parents and help her out." Mavis replied.

"So..." Rapunzel started meekly. "Break my promise?"

"If that's what it takes to help, then yeah."

Rapunzel nodded, glancing briefly down the hall where Anna had gone.

"...ok."

* * *

The elementary school field was lively as it could ever be. Music was playing, the smell of food was everywhere, and kids were walking around the track, trying to break their lap record from last year. It seemed as though everyone was having the best Saturday morning of their lives.

All except for Anna. The girl was volunteering in the lap tent and was supposed to be hole-punching cards for the students, but instead she was passed out on the table, snoozing away. Some of the kids had come to her to get their cards punched, but when they saw her sleeping, the just went over to someone else.

Anna was still napping on the table, when three small girls made their way over to her. They had already gotten her cards punched, but they seemed more interested in checking out the sleeping girl than in continuing their walk.

"Dang, she's totally out," commented one girl, a short one with blonde hair. "Let's mess with her!"

"Edith, no!" a second girl with brown hair and glasses scolded. "Leave her alone, she's just tired."

The third girl, a tiny brown-eyed girl with jet black hair, frowned up at the sleeping Anna. "Are all high school people tired all the time?"

The oldest girl shrugged. "I don't know..."

At that moment, another black haired girl jogged into the tent. "Hey Agnes!" she called. "Hi Edith, hi Margo!"

The three sisters waved at their friend. "Hi Vanellope."

Vanellope stopped next to them, bursting with energy even though she had just been running. "What laps are you on?"

"Agnes and I are on the twentieth lap," Margo replied. "Edith isn't patient enough to walk with us, so she's on like, lap fifty."

Edith chuckled. "Close. Lap 45. If you guys weren't so slow, you'd be here too."

Margo rolled her eyes, and Vanellope laughed. "Not bad," the black-haired girl said. "I'm already on lap 48, but 45 is good too." She lifted her lap card onto the table where Anna was, when she noticed that the girl was snoring. Very loudly.

Vanellope frowned. "Hey! Helloooo! Wake up and punch my card!"

"Uh, Vanellope," Margo started. "I don't think you should..."

"Ah relax," Vanellope said. "She just needs an alarm. _Hey! WAKE UP, LADY!_"

Anna sat up straight instantly, nearly falling over in her chair. "Fifty-two!" she cried out randomly.

The little girls laughed.

"No, still forty-eight," Vanellope joked. "But you're close."

Anna blinked back into consciousness and finally seemed to remember where she was. "Oh...I'm so sorry. Here, I'll take your card." she took the card and punched it, handing to back to Vanellope and resting her head on her hand.

Vanellope lingered there a moment longer. "Hey...your face looks familiar. What's your name?"

"Hmm...oh, Anna."

"Anna...? Hey, do you happen to have a sister named Elsa?"

Anna snapped awake again. "Huh? Yeah, I do. How did you know?"

Vanellope grinned. "I knew it! You look like her. I met her at my cousin's college."

"Oh, really?" Anna asked sleepily. "Your cousin...?"

"Yeah my cousin Ralph," said Vanellope. "I saw him talking to Elsa." She grinned. "They seem...awfully close if you know what I mean."

Anna'a eyes widened at this. "Wait, what? Elsa...has a _boyfriend?!_"

"Hey Vanellope!" Edith called from outside the tent. "Are you coming?"

"Oh, sorry!" Vanellope called. "Later, Anna!"

"Wait, wait!" Anna called after her. "Who's this Ralph guy? What does he look like?"

But Vanellope was already gone.

Anna cursed under her breath. How would Elsa have a boyfriend without telling her? She made a mental note to get hold of Vanellope when she came back around.

Unfortunately, she never got to, for she was asleep within the next few minutes.

* * *

Anna wasn't quite sure how she was able to make it home later, but the nap had done her some good and she was able to get about an hour's rest when she got home.

She was just about to head off other other job at the bakery, when suddenly her sister's bedroom door opened, and Elsa stepped out in her pajamas. "Anna..."

Anna sighed and turned to face her. "Elsa, please...I don't have the energy to fight right now."

"That's ok, I don't want to fight," Elsa replied softly, her voice cracking a little. "I just want to talk."

Anna paused. "I have only like twenty minutes to get to work."

Elsa nodded. "Anna...listen. The...the only reason I work so hard is so you don't have to."

She paused, collecting herself. "Anna, I...I can bear the workload. I'm not like you. I'm used to...to taking things as they come and putting up with it, and you..." she breathed in heavily. "You're lively, and optimistic and bouncy...a-and I don't want...I don't like seeing you drag yourself down..." she trailed off.

Anna swallowed, as the silence hung in the air between them. "...and you don't think I feel the same?" she whispered. "You're dragging yourself down too."

Elsa opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She shut her mouth, trying to compose herself once more, but it didn't work.

"Anna, I'm sorry!" she cried, suddenly bursting into tears. "I'm sorry, this...this is all my fault." she stood there, body shaking, trying in vain to stop her tears.

Anna stood there as well, stunned. She had never seen her sister cry. Not since they were little kids.

And now she was crying too. "I just don't understand!" Anna shouted. "Why can't you just call Aunt Primrose and Uncle Thomas and get them to help us?! Why are you so insistent on being on our own?!"

"Because what if they _die?!_"

Anna stopped. "Elsa, why would you say that?!"

"No, really!" Elsa cried. "What if something happens to them, what if we can't depend on them anymore?! What will be do?! We'll be done! We'll crash and burn!"

Anna said nothing, just watched her sister cry, not knowing what to do or say. Each sister just stood frozen, sobbing, not embracing each other. Everything seemed hopeless at the moment.

When suddenly, the doorbell rang.

The girls stopped sobbing, and practically stopped breathing. After a moment's hesitation, Elsa slowly walked over to the door, wiping away her tears, and opened it.

Rapunzel stood there with her parents.

Elsa's eyes widened. "A-aunt Prim...Uncle Thomas...Rapunzel..."

Anna peeked at them from behind her sister. Her eyes met Rapunzel's as she quickly realized what had happened.

Rapunzel looked at the floor, ashamed. "I'm sorry, Anna..."

Their aunt smiled at them gently. "Hello girls. May we come inside?"

Elsa blinked. "Oh, um...of course." she stepped aside as her aunt and uncle and cousin walked into the apartment and sat down. Anna was still just standing there stupefied.

Elsa hastily walked over to the kitchen. "D-do you want something to eat...? Or drink...?"

"No, we are alright," her uncle called. "Come over here please, Elsa. We need to talk to you."

Elsa gulped and slowly walked back over to the living room as Anna shakily sat down in front of her aunt and uncle. Elsa sat next to her and looked down, expecting to get a major scolding.

But instead, their aunt gave them a kind smile. "So, how are you two doing? Is everything going well?"

Anna and Elsa glanced at each other. Their aunt knew damn well how they were doing.

"Everything going well at school?" their aunt continued. "Work? College? You're making it through alright?"

Elsa but her lip and closed her eyes, trying and failing not to show any of her emotions. Slowly, she shook her head. Anna simply stared at the floor.

There was a silence in the room before their uncle sighed quietly.

"Elsa, Anna..." The man began. "You girls know that we're here to help you, right? ...We know that you are still grieving over your parents, but that's why we are here. We love you very much, and we won't ever hold anything back from you if you need it."

As he spoke, their aunt nodded in agreement, along with Rapunzel.

"Elsa, you told us that you and Anna were starting to be able to live on your own," her uncle continued. "You both found work, you were able to go to college...and everything was working smoothly. That's what you told us. So we figured it was ok to lessen our help a little bit. Why didn't you tell us what was really happening?"

Elsa was silent for a moment, the guilt weighing down on her, before she finally spoke up in a whisper. "I...I thought we _were_ doing ok. At the time. I really did. B-but then..." she wiped at her nose briefly. "I don't know what happened...college started sucking up all the money, and I started getting busier and busier...I-I don't know how it happened, but it did."

"Why didn't you tell us, dear?" her aunt asked quietly. "We could have helped you again if we knew you needed it so much."

Elsa hesitated. "I...I didn't want to burden you."

"Oh Elsa, you're not a burden. You're family. You and Anna are like daughters to me." She paused. "I know that you are both trying very hard, and I know that you don't want to depend on us too much, but look at how it's affecting you two."

Anna yawned right then, which only proved the older woman's point.

"It's starting to tax your health," their uncle noted. "And we can't just stand around and watch when we can do something about it."

Their aunt nodded. "We're going to start loaning you money again," she announced. "And we're not going to cut you off until we're sure, _really sure_, that you don't need it anymore. And please, if you ever have problems, come and tell us. You don't have to be ashamed of it. We're here to help."

The girls nodded quietly.

Their uncle was thoughtful for a moment. "And, Elsa...if it will help, maybe Anna can come and stay with us for a while while you fix things up-"

"No!" Elsa practically shouted. "No, please, don't take Anna away."

Her uncle looked surprised. "We wouldn't be taking her _away_, Elsa. She would just be rooming with us for a bit. You could come and see her whenever you want."

"Uncle Thomas?" Anna squeaked out. "That's ok. I want to stay with Elsa...we can figure this out together."

Their aunt and uncle looked at each other, then finally nodded in agreement. "Alright you two. We're going to be leaving now. Are you both going to be okay?"

They nodded, and Elsa quickly stood up. "Are you sure you don't want to stay for a while?"

Her aunt just smiled back. "You look like you could use some rest. You too, Anna. Were you just heading off to work?"

Anna's eyes widened and she looked down at her uniform as if she had forgotten that she was wearing it. "Yeah..."

"Well, I think you should call in sick and take the day off. Get some rest, both of you."

They nodded again while the family left. Anna and Rapunzel exchanged a weak smile as she headed out the door.

When Elsa closed the door behind them, Anna was expecting her to talk about what had just happened, or to at least grumble about it a little. But Elsa just seemed stunned, and just like she did every day, she disappeared into her room without another sound.

Anna sighed. She was glad that things were finally getting better, but...something was still upsetting her. She really wanted to talk to Elsa and really patch things up, but maybe their aunt was right. Maybe they just needed to get some rest first.

Maybe she should just leave Elsa alone for now.

* * *

Anna had been hoping to sleep through the rest of her Saturday sleeping, but she quickly found out that she still had plenty of homework to catch up on, so that definitely ate up the rest of her day and most of her night. She had been hoping that Sunday morning she'd finally be able to catch up on sleep, until the phone rang.

Anna rolled over in her bed and groaned as she grabbed her phone. She didn't even bother to look at the caller ID as she picked up, hoping the call wouldn't take too long and she could go back to sleep. "Hello...?"

"_Hey, Anna?"_ a male voice responded. "_Where are you? I've been waiting for like thirty minutes."_

"Eh...? Who am I talking to?"

"_Wha-? It's...me, Kristoff."_

"Kristoff...?" Anna rubbed the sleep from her eyes as she tried to wake herself up enough to focus. "Ohhhh, Kristoff! Hi baby, what's up...?"

There was a short silence on the other end. "_I, uh...I'm waiting for you at the movies. Remember, we said we would meet up here at eight?" _

"What? What time is it now?"

"_It's 8:32..."_

Anna jolted up out of bed. She'd never been late for a date with Kristoff before! "Oh gosh, I'm sorry! I'll be right there!" She hung up before he could say another word and quickly threw on her clothes and brushed her hair. True, four and a half hours of sleep wasn't nearly enough to make up for a week without it, but Anna wasn't about to leave her dear boyfriend by himself at the movies.

Tiptoeing past her room so as not to wake her sister, Anna hurried outside and locked the door. She stumbled down the hall, not noticing that she was still reeling around, and got to the elevator.

Eventually she was somehow able to make it to the movie theater a few blocks away, where Kristoff was waiting anxiously.

"Hey," the taller boy greeted as he gave her a hug. "What happened?"

Anna yawned. "I'm sorry, I...overslept. It's been kind of a busy week, and I'm tired."

"Tired?" Kristoff frowned. "You didn't have to come if you're tired."

"No, it's fine," Anna replied, waving her hand in the air. "I slept last night. I'm ok. So...are we gonna watch a movie?"

Kristoff glanced at his watch. "Well, it's probably already like forty minutes in. Do you still wanna go watch?"

Anna scrunched up her nose. "Nah, that's no fun." She yawned again. "I don't really feel like watching a movie anyway. How about we just take a walk?"

Kristoff shrugged and took her hand. "Sure, that's fine by me."

The two started walking down the street, with Anna still struggling to open her eyes. She didn't want their date to be ruined just because she couldn't stay awake for a couple more hours.

"So..." the girl started. "How are you doing? I haven't seen you all week. Are you gonna try out for ice hockey tomorrow?"

"Huh?" Kristoff asked, staring at her in concern. "Uh, sure. Are you ok?"

"Me? Yeah, why?"

"You're kinda...stumbling."

"I am?" Anna frowned with her eyes half-closed. "Oh, I guess I am. I didn't notice." She shrugged it off. "But don't worry, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's fine! Like I said, busy week. Ohhhh, hey! Check out those flowers!"

Anna pointed to a nearby bed of pretty white daisies. They were way out of season, but she didn't really care at the moment. The flowers just looked so..._comfy._ In fact, they were so white that they kinda reminded Anna of her bed...oh, how she just wanted to run over there and fall asleep in the soft white flowers...

"Anna!"

Kristoff's cry snapped her out of her trance, just in time for her to feel the ground smacking against her face. She yelped, and quickly tried to pick herself up off the ground. "Oh...did I fall...?"

Anna suddenly felt Kristoff pick her up into the air and carry her to a nearby bench. "Whoa, Kristoff!" she called. "Kristoff, it's ok!"

Kristoff set her down on the bench and looked her in the eye with a look of panic on his face. "No, it's not!" he snapped. "You just fainted! Stay here, and I'll go get you some water!"

"No, Kristoff..." Anna reached out and grabbed his arm before he could get very far. "I...I'm just...sleep-deprived is all. I haven't slept all week."

Kristoff slowly sat down next to her. "Wh...why?"

"It's a long story," Anna answered quietly. "I'll tell you later. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't want to can...cancel." she yawned widely. "I'm sorry...I'm totally ruining our date, aren't I?"

"Hey, it's ok..." Kristoff assured her gently. "I don't care about that...I just want to make sure you're ok."

Anna smiled sweetly at her boyfriend and rested her head on his shoulder. "Mmm, thanks. Do you mind if I sleep on your shoulder?"

"No, not at all-"

He was cut off when Anna practically collapsed onto him, almost knocking him off the bench. Kristoff balanced himself against the bench, and couldn't help but smiled down at her and put an arm around her. Silly, clumsy little Anna.

Anna yawned once more, slipping into a deep sleep, and slowly handed her phone to Kristoff. "Here...can you call Elsa...and tell her to pick me up...?"

"Sure." He took Anna's phone and let her snuggle against his shoulder again. He glanced down at her phone, remembering that he had never actually spoken to Anna's sister before, and sighed. Then he clicked on Elsa's name.

A groggy female voice picked up. "_Anna...what is it...?"_

Kristoff cleared his throat. "Um, Anna is here with me...we're by the movies and she wants you to come pick her up."

There was a shuffling noise on the other end, and Elsa's voice took on a more alert tone. _"Who is this?!" _

Kristoff's eyes widened suddenly when he realized how creepy his last words may have sounded. "Er, sorry...this is Kristoff."

_"What? Who the hell is Kristoff?!"_

"Kristoff! Anna's boyfriend?"

"_Anna has a boyfriend...?! Where is she, let me talk to her!" _

Anna shuffled awake right then. "Kristoff, why are you yelling...?"

Kristoff hated to keep her awake, but he handed her the phone anyway. "Here, she wants to talk to you. Apparently she doesn't even know who I am..."

"Oh...yeah..." Anna droned. "She's never met you...she probably doesn't know that I started dating anyone after...after Hans..." Anna trailed off and grabbed the phone. "Elsa...? I'm in front of the movies with Kristoff...no, I swear he's my boyfriend...no, he did not _kidnap_ me!"

Kristoff grimaced. Great. First time talking to his girlfriend's older sister, and he just made the worst impression possible.

"Ok, ok," Anna groaned. "I'll be right here. Bye."

She stuffed her phone in her pocket and leaned against Kristoff once more. "Sorry about that..."

"It's ok. I'm just glad that she didn't call the police on me."

Anna smiled a little and drifted back into her sleep.

Elsa drove up in her car a few minutes later, and Kristoff helped Anna get into her seat.

"Sorry about what happened," Anna apologized to him. "I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"

"Ok-just make sure you get some rest, ok?"

"Ok."

Kristoff shut the door, but not before catching a glance of Elsa, who was scrutinizing him as if she would pounce on him at any moment if he hurt her dear sister.

Kristoff shuddered as they drove away. Who would think that a happy, sweet girl like Anna would have such a cold sister?

Meanwhile, Anna was trying to sleep in the car, but Elsa's rambling kept her up.

"Is he really your boyfriend?"

"Yes."

"How long have you been together?"

"Few months."

"How come you never told me?"

Anna rolled her tired eyes. "Sorry, I never got the chance to introduce you. And besides, you're no better. You also have a boyfriend you never introduced me to."

Elsa frowned. "What are you talking about? I don't have a boyfriend."

"Eh...? What about that Ralph guy?"

Elsa nearly slammed that breaks. "_Ralph?_ How the heck do you know Ralph?!"

"I don't," Anna replied. "But I met his little cousin Vanellope at the walk-a-Thon yesterday, and she said that you two were dating."

"Wha-? Vanellope's like nine, and she's only seen me once! Ralph and I aren't dating, I barely even know the guy!"

"Oh..." said Anna, disappointed. "But, is he cute at least?"

"No," Elsa responded automatically, then she bit her lip at how mean she sounded. "I mean...he's not conventionally attractive. He's seems nice, but, again, barely know him."

"Ok, ok, fine." Anna replied with a snicker. "But let me know when you start dating so I can congratulate you, ok?"

Elsa rolled her eyes, but grinned. "Yes of course. But instead of talking about guys, how about we just go home and sleep, ok?"

Anna smiled. "Yes, please."

She couldn't imagine doing anything else.

* * *

It had been a week, and things seemed to be truly getting better. Anna had quit her second job and quickly went back to being her perky self. Elsa was in the process of quitting hers, and for the moment, she did plan on staying in college after the semester was over.

It was nearing the end of October, and the days were getting chillier. Elsa never minded the cold much, but Anna needed to spend tons of money on new sweaters. Elsa tried to discourage her-just because they were getting more help from their cousin's family again doesn't mean they should throw it all out. But Anna was determined to replace those old sweaters with new ones, and apparently the recycled Halloween costume wasn't cutting it for her anymore either. So Elsa let her do what she wanted, albeit begrudgingly. She didn't want to trample her sister's spirit.

Now, Elsa had another problem. She was still quite busy after school with homework and her first job, but since she was quitting her second job she suddenly found herself with extra time and energy, and she wanted to hang out with Anna.

Problem was...she wasn't quite sure _how._ Elsa hadn't really hung out with her sister for three years, ever since their parents had passed away. Elsa had been isolating herself since then, too depressed to talk to anyone. When she graduated from high school she started distracting herself as much as possible.

Anna had never given up. Even during the past three years she would be knocking on Elsa's door, asking her to come out and spend time with her. During the winter days she always begged to go on sled rides or build a snowman, and during the summer she would suggest swimming, hiking, shopping...whatever she could think of to entice Elsa out of her room. Elsa had ignored it all.

When Anna got into high school she had given up a bit, and Elsa seemed to have lost connection to whatever her sister was doing. She had new friends, and she started dating...initially, Elsa had been a little worried that she might get involved with the wrong crowd, but Rapunzel and her parents were keeping an eye on her, so Elsa went back to ignoring.

Now, she felt differently. She didn't want to keep ignoring Anna anymore. She wanted to spend time with her, but...she didn't know how to approach her. It was a little sad, really, that he could not approach her own sister, just to hang out. But it felt strange, after pushing her away for so long, to just go up to her and expect her to forget about everything.

Elsa was pondering this one morning at a coffee shop near campus, when suddenly she heard someone call out her name.

"Elsa! Hey!"

Elsa turned in surprise to see Ralph, not accompanied by Vanellope this time, waving at her.

She smiled. "Oh hi, Ralph. Good to see you."

Ralph grinned widely. "Good to see you too...you, don't come here much, do you?"

Elsa shook we head. "No, I do...but I usually leave pretty quickly. Today I'm just...spaced out, I guess."

"Oh, I see..." said Ralph. He stood there hesitating awkwardly for a moment, before clearing his throat. "You, uh...you wanna sit down...?"

Elsa blinked, surprised that he was actually asking to have coffee with her. Well, it had happened to her several times before, but she had always instantly refused. But now she...didn't really feel like refusing anyone anymore, not even this guy she barely knew. She didn't know why. "Sure..."

The two walked to the back of the store and sat down at a table next to the window. Ralph's seat creaked a little under his weight, but Elsa didn't really notice.

She took a sip of her coffee. "So...no Vanellope today?"

Ralph rolled his eyes. "No, and thank God. Now I can talk without having her make smart remarks at everything I say."

Elsa chuckled.

"I swear, no matter what I do, she always comes up with some clever way to insult me. It's crazy." he grinned, then also took a sip of his coffee. He sat there a little awkwardly, wondering what to talk about next. "So...how are you doing?"

"...I'm ok," Elsa replied with a sigh. "Tired, but ok."

Ralph smiled sympathetically. "Lots of homework?"

"Yeah, that too. Last week was rather stressful." she frowned and sipped her coffee. "My sister and I got into a lot of fights. But now things are working out a little better."

"Are you still not talking to each other?"

"Kind of? I'm not sure." she paused, wondering whether she should ask Ralph for advice once more. Last time that had happened, she had almost made the most idiotic decision of her life. But that really wasn't his fault, and if she didn't ask him, who should she ask?

"Hey Ralph...how do you approach someone that you haven't hung out with in three years?"

Ralph blinked in surprise. "I...I don't know...are we still talking about your sister?"

Elsa smiled sheepishly. "Yes."

Ralph frowned thoughtfully and stared out the window. "Um...I guess...you could ask her what she likes?"

"Um...she likes to shop, I think. She does it all the time." Elsa paused. "But I mean, how can I expect her to forget the fact that I've been ignoring her for so long? H-how do I...get past all that? I feel guilty."

Ralph shrugged. "Well, if she really wants to hang out with you, then she won't hold that against you."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean it worked with my family," he paused for a moment, then shrugged and continued. "They never liked me for the most part, they always liked my brother Felix better, so I got jealous and started being mean to him." he sighed. "Then a few things happened, and I felt guilty about it, but it turns out, he totally forgave me right when I apologized." he grinned. "Turns out he never liked being pressured to be perfect by our family, so then we got together and started screwing around with all of them." Ralph laughed a little at the memory. "Then eventually they stopped playing favorites and Felix and I became best buds."

"Just like that?" Elsa laughed.

"Just like that," Ralph replied. "I guess if your sister is the same way, she'll forgive you too."

Elsa nodded happily. "It would be nice to be best friends with Anna again..." She sipped her coffee and continued quietly. "Thanks Ralph. You're really easy to talk to, you know that?"

Ralph blushed a bit, but grinned. "Hah, really? I wouldn't know, nobody ever talks to me around here."

"Well, we're talking, aren't we?" Elsa laughed."

Ralph chuckled. "Yeah, I guess we are."

They sat comfortably in their chairs for a moment longer, sipping on their coffee and spacing out. Eventually, Elsa had to go, but she definitely felt better than she had before she went inside.

Elsa was usually so reserved, but there was something about Ralph that just made her open up and just talk about whatever she wanted. She didn't know what it was.

Maybe it was because he was the only person who actually cared to listen.

Elsa was in a good mood when she went to pick up Anna. Her sister didn't seem to notice, at least, not until they pulled up in front of the apartment building and Elsa didn't move from her seat.

Anna stared at her curiously. "Elsa..." she said cautiously, remembering what had happened the last time she broke her norm. "What are you doing?"

Elsa just looked down and hesitated. "Nothing, it's just...do you have a lot of homework?"

Anna thought for a moment. "Not really...Why?"

"Well, I was just wondering..." she leaned on the steering wheel. "You wanna go shopping?"

Anna gaped at her for a moment before her face lit up. "Screw homework!" she declared, scrambling back into her seat. "Let's go!"

Elsa laughed and hit the gas once more, following Anna's directions to the nearby store that she'd told her about.

She wouldn't ignore her sister again.

* * *

**A/N: Soooo, I'm noticing a trend here...every third episode just doesn't satisfy me for some reason. XD**

**Ah, Whatever. Enjoy, review, all that good stuff. Episode seven is still in early planning stages, so I don't know when it will be up, but hopefully y'all can be patient with me. XD **

**See you later peeps!**


End file.
